Rumania

Rumania:

see RomaniaRomaniaor Rumania, republic (2005 est. pop. 22,330,000), 91,699 sq mi (237,500 sq km), SE Europe. It borders on Hungary in the northwest, on Serbia in the southwest, on Bulgaria in the south, on the Black Sea in the southeast, on Moldova in the northeast, and on.....Click the link for more information..

Rumania

A socialist state in southern Europe, Rumania lies chiefly in the basin of the Lower Danube. It is bounded by the Black Sea in the east and borders on the USSR, the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Hungarian People’s Republic. Area, 237,500 sq km. Population, 21.1 million (1975). The capital is Bucharest. Administratively, Rumania is divided into 39 districts (judeţul) and the municipality of Bucharest, which has the status of a district (see Table 1).

Rumania is a socialist state and a republic. Its present constitution entered into force on Aug. 21, 1965, and was amended between 1968 and 1975. The head of state is the president, elected by the Grand National Assembly for a five-year term. The president serves as the supreme commander in chief of the armed forces and the chairman of the State Council and the Defense Council.

The supreme organ of state power and the sole legislative body is the unicameral Grand National Assembly, whose 349 deputies are popularly elected for five years on the basis of universal, equal, and direct suffrage and secret balloting. All citizens who have attained the age of 18 may vote.

The powers of the Grand National Assembly are defined by article 43 of the constitution. The Assembly regulates the electoral system, adopts the national economic plan, passes the state budget and hears the budget report, forms the government and other central governing bodies, establishes the administrative-territorial divisions, ratifies international treaties, elects the members of the Supreme Court and the procurator general, and grants amnesty. The Assembly also elects for its term of office the Bureau, composed of the Assembly’s chairman and four vice-chairmen, and standing commissions for specific functions.

Elected by the Grand National Assembly, the State Council is the permanent supreme organ of state authority. It organizes ministries and other central state bodies, institutes awards and honorary titles, and supervises the application of the laws.

The government of Rumania—the Council of Ministers—is composed of the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers,

Table 1. Administrative divisions of Rumania

Districts (judeţul)

Area (sq km)

Population (1974)

Administrative center

Bucharest (Bucureşti)..........................

600

1,682,000

—

Alba.....................................

6,200

400,000

Alba-lulia

Arad.....................................

7,700

496,000

Arad

Argeş....................................

6,800

599,000

Piteşti

Bacău ....................................

6,600

677,000

Bacău

Bihor ....................................

7,500

623,000

Oradea

Bistriţa-Năsăud..............................

5,300

291,000

Bistriţa

Botoşani..................................

5,000

489,000

Botoşani

Brăila....................................

4,700

374,000

Brăila

Braşov ...................................

5,400

496,000

Braşov

Buzău ....................................

6,100

520,000

Buzău

Caraş-Severin ..............................

8,500

372,000

Reşiţa

Cluj .....................................

6,700

689,000

Cluj-Napoca

Constanţa .................................

7,100

545,000

Constanţa

Covasna ..................................

3,700

193,000

Sf.-Gheorghe

Dîmboviţa .................................

3,700

461,000

Tîrgovişte

Dolj .....................................

7,400

745,000

Craiova

Galaţi ....................................

4,400

558,000

Galaţi

Gorj .....................................

5,600

330,000

Tîrgu-Jiu

Harghita ..................................

6,600

311,000

Miercurea-Ciuc

Hunedoara ................................

7,000

514,000

Deva

lalomiţa ...................................

6,200

393,000

Slobozia

laşi .....................................

5,500

724,000

laşi

Ilfov .....................................

8,200

808,000

Bucharest

Maramureş ................................

6,200

485,000

Baia-Mare

Mehedinţi .................................

4,900

327,000

Drobeta-Turnu-Severin

Mureş ....................................

6,700

612,000

T&icirc;rgu-Mureş

Neamţ ...................................

5,900

536,000

Piatra-Neamţ

Olt ......................................

5,500

515,000

Slatina

Prahova ..................................

4,700

786,000

Ploieşti

Sălaj .....................................

3,900

272,000

Zalău

Satu-Mare .................................

4,400

388,000

Satu-Mare

Sibiu ....................................

5,400

457,000

Sibiu

Suceava ..................................

8,600

645,000

Suceava

Teleorman .................................

5,900

541,000

Alexandria

Timiş ....................................

8,700

648,000

Timişoara

Tulcea ...................................

8,400

260,000

Tulcea

Vaslui ....................................

5,300

478,000

Vaslui

Vîlcea ....................................

5,700

404,000

Rîmnicul-VîIcea

Vrancea ..................................

4,900

384,000

Focşani

the ministers, and the heads of central agencies of state administration. Ex officio members of the government include the chairman of the Central Council of the General Union of Trade Unions, the chairman of the National Union of Agricultural Production Cooperatives, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Union of Communist Youth, and the chairman of the National Women’s Council.

The local agencies of state power are the people’s councils, whose deputies are popularly elected to five-year terms in the various districts and Bucharest and to terms of 2½ years in the other territorial units. The people’s councils establish permanent bodies, called executive committees in the capital and in the districts and executive bureaus in the other territorial units.

The judicial system includes the Supreme Court, district and local courts, and military courts. Judges are elected according to law. Elected people’s assessors usually participate in court hearings. The agencies of the Procurator’s Office, headed by the procurator general, supervise the observance of legality.

The Black Sea coast extends for 245 km within Rumania. North of Constanţa, Rumania’s best harbor, the coast is mostly low and, in places, swampy, with numerous islands, offshore sandbars, and lagoons. South of Constanţa much of the coast is straight, and its sandy beaches are bounded by the steep escarpments of Dobruja.

Terrain. Rumania is divided almost equally into medium-elevation mountain areas (above 800 m), hilly or flat uplands (from 200 m to 800 m), and lowlands. The topography is dominated by the Carpathians, which are divided into the Eastern Carpathians, the Southern Carpathians, and the Western Rumanian Mountains.

The Eastern Carpathians stretch for about 300 km from northwest to southeast, rising to 2,305 m at Mount Pietros in the Rodnei (Rodna) Mountains. Their ranges have flat summits and are separated by longitudinal and transverse tectonic valleys. The Southern Carpathians, 270 km long, extend from east to west. The crests of their steep massifs have an alpine topography and reach a maximum elevation of 2,543 m at Mount Moldoveanu, Rumania’s highest peak. The Western Rumanian Mountains include plateau-shaped Bihor Massif, rising to 1,848 m, and the strongly dissected Trascău and Metalici ranges.

Between the Southern and Eastern Carpathians lies the Transylvanian Plateau, with prevailing elevations of 500 m to 800 m. Along the outer side of the Carpathians stretches a band of strongly dissected piedmonts, with elevations sometimes exceeding 1,000 m. The Moldavian Upland in the east consists of isolated hilly ranges with flat interfluves and steep slopes. The southeast is occupied by the karst plateau of Dobruja. Adjoining the southern foothills of the Carpathians is the Lower Danubian Plain. The northern part of the plain is composed mainly of alluvial cones formed by the left tributaries of the Danube, and its southern part has a gently rolling surface. The eastern edge of the Middle Danubian Plain extends into western Rumania.

Geological structure and mineral resources. Rumania lies within the northern section of the Alpine geosynclinal (folded) region. Most of the country is occupied by the Carpathian folded region. Along Rumania’s western boundary lies the Pannonian Central Massif, buried beneath a layer of chiefly Neogene deposits of the Middle Danubian Plain. The Mizii Plate runs along the Danube in the south.

The most important mineral resources are petroleum and gas deposits, associated chiefly with the Ciscarpathian Foredeep. The major petroleum deposits are near Ploieşti and in the piedmont zone, and the gas deposits are found in the Transylvanian Basin. Rumania also has deposits of hard coal, the largest of which are in the Petroşeni Basin. Iron ore and bauxites are mined in the Western Rumanian Mountains; polymetallic, copper, and gold ores at Brad, Zlatna, Capnic, and elsewhere; and rock salt at Praid and Slănic.

Climate. Rumania has a moderate continental climate. The mean January temperature, about 0° C along the coast, drops to -5° C in the plains and to - 10° C or lower in the mountains. The mean July temperature ranges from 20°—23° C in the plains to 8°-16° C in the mountains. On the Black Sea coast, around Mamaia, the bathing season lasts from late June to late September.

The western slopes of the highest mountains receive the greatest amount of precipitation, 1,200–1,500 mm a year. Over the plains and the piedmonts the fall decreases to 400–700 mm, and over the Danube delta and the Black Sea coast it is 300–400 mm. The maximum precipitation occurs between May and July and the minimum, between December and February. Droughts sometimes occur in late summer on the Lower Danubian Plain. The mountains are covered with snow for three or four months and the piedmonts, for one or two months; the snow cover is unstable on the plains.

Rivers and lakes. With the exception of the small streams flowing from Dobruja directly into the Black Sea, almost all of Rumania’s rivers belong to the basin of the Danube, which flows for more than 1,000 km across the country. The largest tributaries of the Danube within Rumania—the Jiu, Olt, Argeş, Ialomiţa, Siret, and Prut, which forms the border between Rumania and the Ukrainian and Moldavian SSR’s—rise in the Carpathians. They are turbulent streams in their upper reaches but generally have a slow current in the Lower Danubian Plain. The largest river in western Rumania, the Mureş, empties into the Tisza outside the country.

The rivers are fed mainly by snow and rain. During the spring high water, typical for all Rumania, a considerable part of the Danube floodplain is inundated, and large temporary lakes are formed. The rivers have a considerable hydroelectric potential, much of which has been harnessed. Large hydroelectric power plants have been built in the Iron Gate gorge on the Danube, as well as on such rivers as the Argeş, Lotru, and Bistriţa, a tributary of the Siret.

The largest lakes, both oxbow and lagoon lakes, are found in the Danube Valley (Potelu, Greaca, Călăraşi, Brateş) and on the Black Sea coast (Razelm, Sinoe). Their dimensions vary greatly over time, and some contain saltwater.

Soils. Highly fertile chernozems and chernozem-type soils are found in the lowlands. Meadow-chernozems occur in the river valleys, and various types of bog soils are encountered on the Danube floodplain. Solonets and solonchak soils are found in places in the depressions of the Lower Danubian Plain and along the Black Sea coast. In central Dobruja chestnut soils have developed on loess. Gray and brown forest soils are prevalent in the piedmonts and on the high plateaus. Mountain varieties of these forest soils cover the lower slopes up to 1,200–1,500 m. At higher elevations podzolic soils have developed under coniferous forests, and mountain-meadow skeletal soils are widespread. Rendzinas are found on calcareous rocks.

Flora. About half of the country’s territory has been plowed up (fields, orchards, and vineyards), and more than two-thirds of its total area is used for agricultural purposes, including livestock raising (meadows and pastures). Natural forest vegetation, covering some 26 percent of Rumania’s territory, has been preserved mainly in the mountains and river floodplains. The rest of the country is occupied by sand, swamps, rocks, and other unproductive land. In the plains the natural vegetation—forb, fescue, and feather-grass steppes and oak forests—has survived only in patches. In the river floodplains are found wet meadows, reed and bulrush thickets, and marshy forests of willow and poplar. The highest parts of the Transylvanian Plateau, the Moldavian Upland, and Dobruja, as well as the Carpathian piedmonts to elevations of 400–700 m, are generally covered with oak forests with an admixture of beech. In the Carpathians, to heights of 800–1,200 m, grow beech forests, sometimes mixed with birch, ash, hornbeam, maple, and English walnut. The undergrowth includes mountain ash, mazzard cherry, bird cherry, viburnum, hawthorn, dogwood, and spindle tree. At higher elevations, to 1,500–1,800 m, flourish coniferous forests, mainly spruce and fir. Near the timber line there is an admixture of pine and larch, and the trees are often stunted. The highest parts of the mountains are covered with subalpine and alpine grass and forb meadows.

Fauna. The forests are inhabited by wolves, foxes, lynx, marten, badgers, hares, squirrels, and such birds as the owl, woodpecker, and cuckoo. Chamois, bears, wild boars, deer (Servuselaphus), and roe deer are occasionally encountered in the forests, and wild goats are found at the summits of the Southern Carpathians. The mountain rivers abound in trout and graylings. Common steppe animals include the marmot, suslik, and field mouse; among birds are the hawk, eagle, great bustard, little bustard, and quail. Lizards and snakes are also found in the steppe. The floodplain forests have, in addition to the usual forest species, various mammals and birds that live around bodies of water, chiefly mink, otter, herons, geese, and swans.

The fauna of the Danube Delta is highly distinctive. The region is a nesting ground for large numbers of marsh and aquatic birds, including herons, geese, ducks, gulls, cranes, and swans; pelicans and flamingos migrate here from North Africa for the summer. Along with fish common to the lower reaches of the Danube, the delta abounds in species of the Acipenseridae family, among them the sturgeon, beluga, stellate sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus), and sterlet. The mountain fauna and landscapes are protected in the Retezat National Park in the Southern Carpathians, as well as in the Danube and other preserves.

Natural regions. The Middle Danubian (Tisza) Plain, composed of alluvium, has a flat topography and is mostly plowed up. The Lower Danubian Plain (Rumanian Lowland) is a flat, plowed-up alluvial plain dissected by the swampy Danube Valley. Dobruja is a tableland with some karst formations. In the Moldavian Upland, strongly dissected by erosion, plowed fields alternate with oak groves. The Subcarpathians, located in the east and south, are strongly dissected piedmonts of the Carpathians with oak and beech forests. The Western Rumanian Mountains, composed of crystalline, volcanic, and limestone massifs, are covered with forests and subalpine meadows. The Transylvanian Plateau is a mostly plowed-up in-tramontane plateau on which forest-steppe landscapes predominate. The Eastern Carpathians, with an axial zone of crystalline and volcanic rocks and a peripheral zone of flysch, are covered with mixed forests and subalpine meadows. The Southern Carpathians, containing the highest peaks in Rumania, are composed chiefly of crystalline rocks. Here the landscapes have a clearly discernible altitudal zonation.

Rumanians constitute the bulk of the population, 87.7 percent of the total according to the 1966 census. Hungarians, the second largest national group, account for 8.5 percent of the population. They live in the central and northwestern regions, mainly in the historic province of Transylvania. Germans, making up 2 percent of the population, live in the central and western districts, as well as in separate communities. Other smaller ethnic groups include Gypsies (throughout the country), Jews (in large cities), Ukrainians (mainly in the north), Serbs (chiefly in the southwest), and Russians. The vast majority of the believers are Orthodox; there are also Catholics (mostly Hungarians) and Protestants (predominantly Germans). The official calendar is the Gregorian.

According to census data, the population increased from 15.9 million in 1948 to 21.1 million in 1975 (estimate). Between 1951 and 1974 the population increased at an average annual rate of 1.1 percent. Of the 10.1 million persons employed in the national economy at the end of 1974, 39.8 percent worked in agriculture, 29.6 percent in industry, 8.1 percent in construction, 4.6 percent in transportation and communications, 5.4 percent in trade, and 3.2 percent in the municipal economy.

In 1974 the population density averaged 89 persons per sq km, rising to 100–150 persons per sq km in the southern and northeastern plains and hill regions and declining to 20–40 persons per sq km in the mountains and the Danube delta. The urban population accounts for 42.7 percent of the total, and 17.4 percent of the city dwellers live in Bucharest (1974). The largest cities are Cluj-Napoca (formerly Cluj), Timişoara, Iaşi, Braşov, Galaţi, Craiova, Constanţa, and Ploieşti.

Primitive communal society and the formation of slaveholding states (to the sixth century A.D.). The earliest traces of human habitation on the territory of Rumania date from the Lower Paleolithic. The Middle Paleolithic is represented by the Mousterian culture. The physically fully evolved man of the Upper Paleolithic made stone tools by flaking; workshops for the production of such tools have been discovered at Josaşel and Ceahlău in the Carpathians and at Mitoc on the Prut. During the Mesolithic, microliths and bows and arrows came into use, and the Tardenoisian culture predominated in the southeast. Primitive agriculture and stock raising appeared in the Neolithic. The early Neolithic is best represented by the Criş culture, the mature Neolithic by the Turdaş-Vinca culture, and the later Neolithic—the Aeneolithic—by the Gumelniţa and Cucuteni cultures.

At the beginning of the second millennium B.C., an invasion of pastoral tribes from the Northern Black Sea Shore and Central Europe hastened the transition to the Bronze Age and promoted the development of stock raising and the strengthening of tribal organizations. The late Bronze Age, occurring at the beginning of the first millennium B.C., was marked by a shift to plow cultivation. During this period the material culture on the territory of Rumania, northern Bulgaria, and northern Yugoslavia became uniform, attesting to the formation of a Thracian ethnic community. In terms of burial rituals, Rumania was part of the Urn-field culture.

The Scythians, who migrated into the region from the Northern Black Sea Shore in the sixth century B.C., and later the Celts, who appeared in Transylvania around the third century B.C., contributed to the development of iron metallurgy. Both the Scythians and the Celts were gradually absorbed by the local Thracian tribes. In the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., the Greek city-states of Histria, Callatis, and Tomis were founded in Dobruja and on the Black Sea coast. They were conquered by the Pontic Kingdom in the late second century B.C. and by Rome in the first century B.C.

The Lower Danubian Plain was inhabited by the Getae, the largest of the Thracian tribal confederations, and Dacians lived in Transylvania and the mountain and hilly regions of Moldavia (Moldova) and Walachia. A strong Geto-Dacian tribal confederation arose in the middle of the first century B.C. and gradually developed into a state. The first century A.D. saw the formation of a Dacian early slaveholding state with its center in Transylvania. Cities with stone buildings, temples, and fortifications were built, among them Sarmizegetusa, the capital, and the fortress Piatra-Roşie.

In the early second century A.D., despite the Dacians’ long and stubborn resistance led by King Decebalus, the state was conquered by Rome and transformed into the Roman province of Dacia. The Dacians were romanized. The Danube Valley and the inaccessible mountain regions were inhabited by tribes not subdued by the Romans, such as the Getae, Carpae, Sarmatians, and bearers of the Cherniakhov culture.

In A.D. 271, owing to the general crisis in the Roman Empire and the increasing frequency of barbarian invasions, the Romans withdrew from Dacia. Part of the romanized local population left Dacia together with the Roman Army and administrative staff. The Dacians who remained behind lived mainly in the hills and mountains. After the Romans left Dacia, the former Roman province was settled by various tribes from other areas. Such tribes as the Huns, Gepids, Lombards, and Avars arrived later and settled in the region for varying lengths of time.

Feudalism (sixth century to the 1840’s). In the sixth and seventh centuries the territory of present-day Rumania was settled by Slavs, who had a great impact on the material and spiritual culture of the local population and who played an important role in the development of an indigenous state and the evolution of the Eastern Romance people, called Vlachs or Volochs in historical sources. Much of the area was part of the First Bulgarian Kingdom from the late eighth to the tenth century. The first Vlach-Slavic political associations arose in the tenth century. Rumania was invaded by the Pechenegs and Polovtsy (Cumans) in the 11th and 12th centuries and by the Tatar-Mongols in the 13th century. The Tatars conquered all of Moldavia but only part of Walachia. Transylvania came under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary in the 11th and 12th centuries.

The attainment of a certain economic level, the development of feudalism, and the emergence of classes in the Vlach communities, as well as the need to repulse the attacks of Hungarian and Tatar-Mongol feudal armies, led to the formation of independent states in the 14th century—the principalities of Walachia and Moldavia. Each principality was ruled by a hospodar, who was the largest feudal landholder.

The formation of the principalities contributed to the further development of feudalism in Rumania. The aristocracy, which was becoming feudalized, and the Christian monasteries increased their holdings through the predatory seizure of communal lands and through land grants by the hospodars, thus reducing the landholdings of the free peasants and making them dependent on the feudal lords. In the late 16th century the Moldavian and Walachian peasants lost the right to move from one lord to another. A statute promulgated by the Moldavian hospodar V. Lupu in 1646 and a law code adopted in Walachia in 1652 gave legal sanction to the enserfment of the peasantry. In Transylvania the peasants were bound to the land in the early 16th century.

Despite stubborn resistance, the Walachian and later the Moldavian Principality became vassals of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. After the battle of Mohács in 1526 and the disintegration of the Kingdom of Hungary, the relatively independent Transylvanian Principality was established in 1541, but it too recognized the suzerainty of the Turkish sultan. The dependence of the Moldavian and Walachian principalities on the Ottoman Empire increased from the middle of the 16th century. Making use of his right to confirm hospodars, the Turkish sultan sold the hospodar throne to the highest bidder and reduced the hospodars to the level of henchmen.

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries the Walachian hospodar Michael the Brave won several victories in the struggle against the Ottoman Empire and for a short time united the Walachian and Moldavian principalities and Transylvania under his rule. The political ties between the principalities and Russia grew stronger from the late 16th century in the course of the joint struggle against Ottoman aggression, and in the 17th and early 18th centuries the hospodars V. Lupu, M. Basarab, G. Ştefan, and C. Brîncoveanu maintained close political relations with the Ukraine and Russia. During Peter I’s Prut campaign of 1711, Moldavians joined the Russian force fighting the Turks, and the Moldavian hospodar Demetrius Cantemir concluded an alliance with Peter I.

From the early 18th century the Turkish sultan began appointing hospodars in the Moldavian and Walachian principalities from among the Greek Phanariots. The Turkish-Phanariot oppression intensified the feudal exploitation of the Moldavian and Walachian peasants. Agrarian reforms, promulgated in Walachia in 1746 and in Moldavia in 1749, gave the peasants their personal freedom but bound them to the land for taxation purposes. The growing national and social oppression stimulated a broad liberation and antifeudal movement among the popular masses.

Turkish rule hindered the emergence of capitalist relations in the principalities. Enterprises of the manufactory type, employing dependent peasants, were founded in the second half of the 18th century. They produced cloth, paper, and glass. In Transylvania, which came under Hapsburg rule in the late 17th century, the corvee and demesne system survived, and serfdom, aggravated by national oppression, was intensified. A striking manifestation of the growing class protest was the large-scale Transylvanian Peasant Uprising of 1784–85, led by N. Horea, G. Crişan, and I. Cloşca.

The Russo-Turkish wars of the 18th and 19th centuries, by sapping the military strength of the Ottoman Empire, aided the liberation struggle of the peoples of Moldavia and Walachia. Detachments of Moldavian and Walachian volunteers joined the Russian forces in military operations against Turkey. The Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji, concluded in 1774, granted Russia the right “to speak on behalf of the principalities.” The Treaty of Iaşi (Jassy), signed in 1791, reaffirmed the provisions of the Kuchuk Kainarji Treaty. By the Bucharest Peace Treaty, which ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–12, Bessarabia was freed from Turkish rule and incorporated into Russia.

The popular masses of the principalities waged a stubborn struggle against Ottoman suzerainty and the domination of the local feudal lords. In the first quarter of the 19th century, the national liberation and social struggle culminated in the Walachian Revolt of 1821 under the leadership of T. Vladimirescu. Although the uprising was suppressed, its immediate result was the abolition of Phanariot rule in the principalities and the election of hospodars from among the local boyars, gains that were confirmed by the Russo-Turkish Akkerman Convention (1826). A further step in reducing the principalities’ dependence on Turkey was the Russo-Turkish Treaty of Adrianople (1829), which guaranteed the autonomy of Moldavia and Walachia.

The abolition of the Turkish trade monopoly after 1829 contributed to an economic upsurge in the principalities. Manufacture developed, trade expanded, and a commercial bourgeoisie began to emerge. Grain exports increased, stimulating commodity farming. The sown area on the estates of the Moldavian and Walachian boyars increased at the expense of peasant holdings. The Organic Statute, worked out with the assistance of Count P. D. Kiselev and introduced in 1831–32, strengthened the rights and privileges of the great boyars and the higher clergy. Although the peasants retained the right to move from one lord to another, their allotments were reduced and their obligations to the feudal lords were increased. Nevertheless, the Organic Statute provided for a number of social, economic, political, and administrative reforms that brought the principalities closer together, both economically and culturally.

The antifeudal peasant movement gained momentum during the 1830’s and 1840’s. Secret revolutionary organizations sprang up among the lesser boyars, the nascent bourgeoisie, and the intelligentsia. They proposed various programs of national liberation and called for certain economic and political reforms.

The revolutionary movement in Moldavia in 1848–49 and the bourgeois democratic revolutions of 1848–49 in Walachia and Transylvania struck a blow at the feudal order.

The bourgeois revolutions of 1848–49, bourgeois reforms, and the struggle for the unification of the Danubian Principalities and for the country’s independence (1848 to the 1870’s). In March 1848, Moldavia was the scene of a movement for bourgeois reforms headed by landlords and members of the bourgeoisie opposed to the government. The movement was quickly suppressed by troops. An antifeudal peasant uprising that lasted from March to May 1848 was also quelled. The tsarist government came to the aid of local reactionaries.

In June 1848 a revolution broke out in Walachia. N. Bălcescu was the leader of the movement’s revolutionary democratic wing. On June 9 (21) the members of a revolutionary committee that had been formed in Bucharest met in the village of Islaz and proclaimed a program of bourgeois democratic reforms. An uprising broke out in Bucharest on June 11 (23). The provisional revolutionary government that was established during the uprising abolished the privileges of the large boyar landowners, censorship, and capital punishment. It also proclaimed the equality of all the inhabitants before the law and formed a national guard. However, the provisional revolutionary government proved unable to solve the peasant question quickly and radically—to free the peasants from feudal obligations and grant them land. Because the national bourgeoisie was weak, the revolution in Walachia was led largely by small and middle landlords, who were discontented with the rule of the great feudal lords but shied away from an alliance with the peasantry. On September 13 (25) the Turkish Army occupied Bucharest; the revolution was defeated.

In the spring of 1848, Transylvania, which had been absorbed into the Hapsburg Empire, became the site of an antifeudal revolutionary movement and a struggle for national equality for Rumanians, who constituted the majority of the population but who had no political rights. At first the Rumanian population of Transylvania supported the revolution of 1848–49 in Hungary. But the shortcomings of the agrarian legislation enacted by the government of revolutionary Hungary and the government’s refusal to recognize the equality of different nationalities caused a rift between the Rumanian national movement and the Hungarian revolutionary forces. The Hapsburg reactionaries took advantage of the situation, and in August 1849 the Hungarian revolutionary army surrendered at Világos (Şiria).

After the Crimean War (1853–56) the Treaty of Paris of 1856 replaced the Russian protectorate over the principalities with a “guaranty” by the seven signatory powers. The treaty reaffirmed the autonomous rights of the principalities “under the supreme authority of the Porte” that had been granted under the Russo-Turkish treaties. It also stipulated that the wishes of the population were to be consulted regarding the future political organization of the principalities. By the treaty Russia relinquished southern Bessarabia.

A movement for unification arose in Moldavia and Walachia, facilitating the struggle for full independence and objectively promoting the development of bourgeois relations. The unification of the principalities was supported by Russia, which sought to prevent Austrian and Turkish expansion in the Balkans, and by France, which hoped thereby to strengthen its influence in the united principalities. Turkey, Austria, and Great Britain opposed unification. The rival powers reached a compromise in the Convention of Paris, signed on Aug. 7 (19), 1858, which provided for the establishment of several joint governing bodies but allowed the hospodars to keep their power. In January 1859, A. I. Cuza was elected prince of both Moldavia and Walachia. Thus the decisive step was taken toward the unification of the principalities. In response to the determined struggle of the Rumanian public, the guarantor powers consented in November 1861 to the unification of the principalities. In January 1862 a united National Assembly was convened in Bucharest and a unitary government was formed, completing the political merger of Moldavia and Walachia into a single Rumanian state, called the Principality of Rumania.

As the class struggle in Rumania intensified, the peasants’ struggle for land gained momentum. Overcoming the resistance of conservative landlords, who agreed only to “free” the peasants without land, Cuza and his prime minister, M. Kogălniceanu, enacted an agrarian reform law in August 1864. Under the law 455,000 peasant families received plots ranging from 2.3 hectares (ha) to 8 ha in return for heavy redemption payments, and about 60,000 families received only garden plots. Some 150,000 families were altogether excluded from the lists of recipients. The reform infuriated the landlords but neither could it satisfy the peasantry. Cuza lost his broad social support and abdicated in February 1866 under pressure from a reactionary coalition of landlords and big bourgeoisie, known as the monstrous coalition. After a rigged plebiscite, Charles of the Hohenzollern dynasty became Carol I, prince of Rumania. A constitution adopted in 1866 consolidated the power of the landowners and capitalists.

The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which broke out in April 1877, helped liberate Rumania and the other peoples of the Balkan Peninsula from the domination of the Ottoman Empire. On May 9 (21), 1877, the Rumanian parliament proclaimed the country’s independence. The Rumanian Army joined the war in August 1877, and Rumanians fought alongside Russians in the battles for Plevna. The Berlin Congress of 1878 recognized Rumania’s complete independence. Rumania received northern Dobruja, including Constanţa, and southern Bessarabia was returned to Russia. Rumania was proclaimed a kingdom in 1881.

Bourgeois-landlord Rumania from the proclamation of independence to 1918. With independence, conditions became more conducive to the development of capitalism. The government of the National Liberal Party (founded in 1875), headed by Ion Brătianu and supported by the bourgeoisie and some of the landowners, adopted a number of measures that promoted the development of industry. It introduced a protective customs tariff in 1886 and enacted a law aimed at stimulating industry in 1887. The number of enterprises rose from 12,900 in 1860 to 62,300 in 1902. Although most of them were semicottage handicraft industries, large-scale industries developed as well. By 1902 there were 625 large and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing industry alone.

Oil extraction and refining grew rapidly, and by 1900 there were 70 oil refineries. On the eve of World War I, Rumania was the world’s third largest oil producer, after the USA and Russia. The first metallurgical and machine-building enterprises were founded. The early 20th century was marked by a rapid concentration of industry, which affected the oil, cement, sugar, flour-milling, and distilling industries. Rumania was heavily dependent on foreign capital. Foreigners owned 80 percent of the joint stock capital, and one-third of Rumania’s budget income went to cover the foreign debt.

Industrial development was accompanied by a growth of the working class. Between 1901 and 1913 the proletariat increased from 98,600 to 197,600 persons, 36 percent of whom were employed in large industry.

The economic upsurge of the second half of the 19th century stimulated the development of Transylvania’s industries, mainly the branches through which Austrian and Hungarian capital could exploit the region’s natural resources. Rumanian capital flowed into light industry and banking, but here too it was of secondary importance. The rate of Transylvania’s industrial development increased after 1900.

At the turn of the century 920,000 peasant households in the Rumanian kingdom owned 3.15 million ha of land, and 7,800 landlords possessed 4 million ha. Most of the landlords did not engage in agriculture but leased their land to middleman tenants. Brutal exploitation of the peasants enabled the landlords and large tenants to compete on the world market; up to 40 percent of the grain was exported. Capitalist relations in agriculture developed slowly, along the Prussian path, ruining and impoverishing the peasant masses. The oppression in the countryside provoked incessant peasant disturbances, of which the largest were the peasant uprisings of 1888 and 1907. In southern Transylvania Junker-type estates were becoming firmly established, and in the rest of Transylvania sharecropping flourished because of the small size of the peasant holdings.

A labor movement emerged in the late 1860’s. The first spontaneous demonstrations of the proletariat took place on railroad construction sites and in ports (Brăila, Galaţi, Giurgiu). The early 1870’s saw the founding of workers’ societies and of socialist groups composed of members of the intelligentsia and students who were strongly influenced by the Russian revolutionary democrats and Narodniki (Populists). C. Dobrogeanu-Gherea and N. Zubcu-Codreanu, Rumanian revolutionary democrats of Russian origin, played a prominent part in the dissemination of socialist ideas. The Rumanian socialists were also influenced by the ideas of Proudhon and Lassalle. In 1883–84 the socialist circles accepted Marxism, and by the end of the 19th century the workers’ movement was tending more and more toward socialism. Workers’ clubs were organized in Bucharest in 1890 and later in other cities. The founding congress of the Social Democratic Party of the Workers of Rumania was held in April 1893. The treacherous policies of the party’s opportunist leaders led to its disintegration in 1899.

The Revolution of 1905–07 in Russia gave a strong impetus to the Rumanian revolutionary movement. A solidarity movement spread throughout the country, and on their arrival the sailors of the revolutionary battleship Potemkin were given a warm welcome. The strike movement reached unprecedented proportions: in 1906 there were 56 strikes in Bucharest. The General Trade Union Commission was founded in August 1906, and a congress held in January and February 1910 revived the Social Democratic Party, renamed the Social Democratic Party of Rumania (SDPR).

In Transylvania and in the Banat, an organized workers’ movement arose in 1860’s. A section of the First International operated in Timişoara. Representatives from Transylvania and the Banat participated in the founding of the General Workers’ Party of Hungary in 1880, which in 1890 was transformed into the Social Democratic Party of Hungary. Trade unions were established in the 1890’s; in some cities they enlisted from 20 to 50 percent of the workers. A strong upsurge in the workers’ movement occurred between 1905 and 1907, when 400 strikes broke out, involving 100,000 workers, and the number of trade unions increased.

In 1913 the ruling circles of Rumania, pursuing an expansionist policy and also trying to divert the people from the revolutionary struggle, drew Rumania into the Second Balkan War. Under the Bucharest Peace Treaty of 1913, Rumania obtained southern Dobruja, where the majority of the people were Bulgarians. Rumanian workers opposed the war, and the Social Democratic Party organized meetings and rallies protesting the annexation of foreign territory.

After the outbreak of World War I the Rumanian government adopted a position of “armed neutrality,” although Rumania had been a member of the alliance of the Central Powers from 1883. Simultaneously, the government opened negotiations with the Entente. Rumanian workers vigorously opposed the attempts of the ruling circles to draw the country into the imperialist war. Delegates from the Rumanian Social Democratic Party attended the Zimmerwald Conference in 1915 and the Second Balkan Socialist Conference.

In August 1916 the government of Ionel Brătianu signed a treaty of alliance with the Entente powers. In return for entering the war on their side the Entente powers consented to Rumanian annexation not only of Austro-Hungarian lands inhabited by Rumanians but also of regions settled by Ukrainians, Hungarians (along the Tisza River), and Serbs (the western Banat). On Aug. 14 (27), 1916, Rumania declared war on Austria-Hungary, but by November the Rumanian forces had been defeated, and German and Austrian troops occupied much of the country, including Bucharest. In the fall and winter campaign of 1916 the Rumanian military losses—killed, wounded, or captured—totaled 250,000 men. The Russian troops who came to the aid of the Rumanian Army stopped the enemy at the Siret River between December 1916 and January 1917. By the summer of 1917 the Rumanian Army was reorganized and, jointly with the Russian troops, repulsed the offensive of the German-Austrian armies.

World War I interrupted the democratic movement that emerged in Transylvania in 1913. But as early as 1916 a wave of strikes engulfed Transylvania and the Banat. The largest one, the miners’ strike in the Jiu Valley that lasted from May to July 1916, was brutally suppressed. On May 1, 1916, demonstrations demanding a just peace without annexations were held in Transylvanian cities for the first time since the outbreak of the war.

Bourgeois-landlord Rumania from 1918 to Aug. 23, 1944. At the end of the war the bourgeois-landlord regime underwent a deep crisis. The October Socialist Revolution in Russia galvanized the Rumanian revolutionary movement. Mass strikes occurred in Rumania in the first half of 1918, and mutinies broke out in the navy in January and February. A movement of solidarity with the victorious proletariat of Soviet Russia developed. The participation of the Rumanian ruling circles in the intervention aimed at overthrowing Soviet Russia and the Hungarian Soviet Republic (1919) angered the progressives in Rumanian society. With the revolutionary movement on the rise, the Rumanian Social Democratic Party, under pressure from its left wing, reorganized itself as the Socialist Party of Rumania in November 1918. Realizing that it could not suppress the revolutionary movement by force, the government resorted to demagogy: in December 1918 it proclaimed “universal suffrage” (excluding women and soldiers) and adopted a decree on agrarian reform.

After the war Rumania’s area and population more than doubled. By the peace treaties of Saint-Germain, Neuilly, and Trianon, Rumania acquired Transylvania as well as Dobruja and Bukovina, including northern Bukovina, inhabited mainly by Ukrainians and Russians, and southern Dobruja, settled chiefly by Bulgarians. Transylvania was united with Rumania on Dec. 1, 1918, at the moment when Austria-Hungary was disintegrating. In January 1918, Rumania took part in the military intervention against Soviet Russia and seized and annexed Bessarabia, where the occupation forces abolished Soviet rule by force of arms.

In the postwar years the political crisis in the bourgeois-landlord regime was reflected in the rapid succession of governments and in the appearance of new parties. One such party, the Peasant Party (founded in 1918), merged with the National Party (established in 1881) to form the National Peasant Party in 1926. The most significant demonstration of the Rumanian working class in the years after the post-October 1917 revolutionary upsurge was the October General Strike of 1920. The founding of the Rumanian Communist Party (RCP) in May 1921 initiated a new phase in the Rumanian workers’ movement.

In 1922, Rumania entered a period of relatively stabilized capitalism. The economic and political position of the big financial and industrial bourgeoisie became stronger, and a land reform begun in 1922 consolidated the position of the rural bourgeoisie. For all but a brief period the country was governed by the Rumanian National Liberal Party from 1922 to 1928. The workers’ and peasant movements were subjected to brutal repressions in the 1920’s. The Communist Party was outlawed in April 1924, but continued its activity underground.

The foreign policy of bourgeois-landlord Rumania in the 1920’s aimed at strengthening political ties with the Western powers. In 1920–21, Rumania took part in the creation of the Little Entente. In 1921 the ruling circles concluded a military alliance with bourgeois-landlord Poland, an act directed against the Soviet state; in 1926 treaties were concluded with France and Italy. Despite the hostility of the Rumanian ruling circles to the USSR, the Soviet Union, guided by the peaceful principles of its foreign policy, pursued throughout the interwar years a policy of normalizing relations with Rumania, while insisting that the annexed Soviet lands be returned to the USSR. The Rumanian Communist Party consistently opposed the occupation of these lands. However, the Rumanian reactionaries invariably rejected the just demands of the Soviet government.

The world economic crisis of 1929–33 caused a sharp decline in the country’s industrial and agricultural production. The only exception was oil extraction because the international monopolies, by intensifying the exploitation of oil workers and thereby reducing production costs to a minimum, made use of the export of cheap oil from Rumania in their competitive struggle. The governments of the National Peasant Party, in office from 1928 to 1933 (with one interruption), accepted the domination of foreign capital in the economy, which also increased Rumania’s political dependence on the West. Crown Prince Carol, who had been exiled in 1926 and who maintained close ties with the monopoly circles of Great Britain and France, returned to the country in 1930. In June 1930 he was crowned Carol II. The fascist Iron Guard organization was founded in 1931.

The working people resisted the offensive of the reactionaries and the deterioration of the economy. In August 1929 the miners at Lupeni struck, but the strike was brutally suppressed by the authorities. The Fifth Congress of the Rumanian Communist Party, held in December 1931, charted a strategy for the party and reinforced its organization. Guided by the decisions of the Congress, the Communist Party stepped up its efforts to unite the working class. In February 1933 the party led the large-scale revolutionary actions of the Ploieşti oil workers and the Bucharest railroad men. The peasants also joined the revolutionary struggle. The Plowmen’s Front, a democratic organization of the working peasantry, was founded in January 1933 under the leadership of P. Groza.

After the world economic crisis of 1929–33, production again increased, especially in the steel and chemical industries. But a number of branches, notably the coal and textile industries, stagnated or even declined. The agrarian reform proclaimed in 1918 was never completed: in 1938 the number of landless peasants reached 1 million. The concentration and centralization of industrial and finance capital intensifed in the mid-1930’s, and the state monopoly tendencies in Rumanian capitalism were becoming more apparent.

From January 1934 to December 1937 the country was governed by the National Liberal Party’s right wing, which was closely associated with the monarchy. The country was increasingly leaning toward fascism. In addition to the Iron Guard, the fascist National Christian Party, founded in 1935, and other fascist groups operated in the political arena. In this period the Communist Party was instrumental in creating such legal democratic organizations as the National Antifascist Committee, the League of Labor, the Society of the Friends of the USSR, and the Democratic Coalition. Guided by the decisions of the Seventh Congress of the Comintern (1935), the Communist Party stepped up its struggle against the fascist offensive.

In foreign policy the Rumanian ruling circles continued to look to Great Britain and France, but they also began to seek a rapprochement with fascist Germany. However, the threat of a revision of the Versailles system of peace treaties forced Rumania to participate in collective security measures in Europe. Along with the USSR and several other East European countries, it signed the London Convention on the Definition of Aggression in 1933. In view of the growing international prestige of the Soviet Union and the insistent demands of the working people, the Rumanian government established diplomatic relations with the USSR in June 1934. After 1935, while continuing its traditional balancing between the two imperialist blocs, Rumania leaned more and more toward collaboration with fascist Germany.

In December 1937 the fascist National Christian Party, headed by O. Goga, came to power; its short term of office was a prologue to the establishment of a dictatorial regime. On Feb. 10, 1938, Carol II dismissed the Goga government and established a personal dictatorship, known as the royal dictatorship, which represented the interests of the financial monopoly groups linked with the royal camarilla. In February 1938 a reactionary constitution was adopted, in March the political parties were disbanded, and in October the trade unions were dissolved, to be replaced by “corporations” modeled on those of fascist Italy. December saw the founding of the only political party tolerated by the regime, the fascist Front of National Regeneration. In March 1939 Rumania concluded an economic treaty with Germany; together with other agreements signed in 1939 and 1940, the treaty placed the Rumanian economy completely at the service of fascist Germany.

At the outbreak of World War II the Rumanian government announced Rumania’s neutrality. While maintaining contacts with British and French capital, the ruling classes supplied Germany with food and raw materials. In the summer of 1940 the reactionary monarchist-fascist government abandoned its policy of neutrality, and a fascist regime was firmly established in the country. In these circumstances the Soviet government could no longer postpone the resolution of the Bessarabian question and demanded that Rumania return Bessarabia, which had been illegally seized in 1918. The Soviet government also requested that Rumania cede to the USSR northern Bucovina, most of whose population had historic, linguistic, and ethnic ties with the Ukrainian SSR. By the Soviet-Rumanian agreement of June 28, 1940, Bessarabia was reunited with the USSR. Northern Bucovina and several Bessarabian districts became part of the Ukrainian SSR, and most of Bessarabia was reunited with the Moldavian ASSR, transformed that same year into the Moldavian SSR.

While preparing for the war against the USSR, fascist Germany imposed on Rumania the second Vienna Arbitration, by which northern Transylvania was torn from Rumania and given to Horthy’s Hungary. The Soviet Union condemned the Vienna Arbitration as a typical imperialist deal. A Bulgarian-Rumanian agreement signed in Craiova on Sept. 7, 1940, returned southern Dobruja to Bulgaria.

Dissatisfaction with the monarchist-fascist regime, which had accepted the Vienna Arbitration, spread throughout the country. Taking advantage of the discontent, the leading Rumanian monopolists and landowners deposed Carol II in September 1940. The move was supported by Hitler, who wanted to turn Rumania into an armed camp in preparation for the war against the Soviet Union. Carol’s son Mihai was proclaimed king, but actual power passed into the hands of General I. Antonescu, who established a military fascist dictatorship in collaboration with the Iron Guard. In October 1940 fascist German troops entered Rumania with the consent of Antonescu’s government, and on November 23, Rumania joined the Berlin Pact. At the same time, Hitler and Antonescu began negotiations in preparation for the war against the USSR. In return for Rumania’s participation in the war, Hitler promised the Rumanian dictator Soviet territory as far as the Dnieper. The Rumanian ruling elite hoped thereby to stifle the growing class antagonisms in the country. With the approval of the Rumanian ruling circles, the German government turned Rumania into an appendage of the German war machine and one of Germany’s important sources of oil and other raw materials.

The Rumanian Communist Party, operating deep in the underground, opposed Rumania’s involvement in World War II. The sixth, extended, plenum of the Central Committee of the Rumanian Communist Party, held in July 1939, set as the party’s main task the mobilization of the masses for a struggle against the policy of national treason. The party consistently implemented the Comintern policy of organizing resistance to fascist aggression, fought against the treason of the reactionary national bourgeoisie and right-wing Social Democrats, and urged a policy of alliance with the USSR. The workers’ strike in the Jiu Valley in April and May 1941 is a heroic page in the history of the Rumanian workers’ movement of that period.

On June 22, 1941, Rumania joined fascist Germany in unleashing a war against the USSR. Rumania deployed 13 divisions and nine brigades to reinforce the fascist German troops, and on July 1 it began an offensive in the Dnestr-Prut interfluve, thereby invading the USSR. Subsequently, 30 Rumanian divisions and brigades participated in the war. German and Rumanian fascists organized mass plunder in the occupied Soviet areas.

Rumania itself suffered from the war. Deliveries of oil, food, and various raw materials to fascist Germany increased. In September 1941 the Rumanian Communist Party proposed a program of ending the war against the USSR, overthrowing the fascist military regime, joining the anti-Hitlerite coalition, and driving the German fascist occupation forces out of the country. The Patriotic Anti-Hitlerite Front was founded in June 1943 on the party’s initiative. The exhaustion of the country’s economic resources, the great loss of life, and the rapid deterioration of the working people’s economic situation heightened antifascist sentiments among the population and in the army. After the rout of the fascist German troops on the Don and at Stalingrad, where Rumanian divisions were encircled along with German ones, the crisis in the Antonescu dictatorship intensified.

In March 1944 the Soviet Army reached the Rumanian border. The Soviet government offered the Rumanian government favorable armistice conditions, but the Antonescu government rejected them. Members of the bourgeois opposition, including court and army circles, made contact with the Rumanian Communist Party in an effort to cut loose from the sinking Antonescu regime. The National Democratic Bloc, formed on June 20, 1944, included representatives of the Rumanian Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party of Rumania (founded in 1927), the National Peasant Party, and the National Liberal Party. Armed detachments were formed, and an uprising was planned to coincide with the Soviet Army’s offensive on the southern front.

Liberation of Rumania from fascist oppression; victory of the people’s democratic system (Aug. 23, 1944, to December 1947). In the course of the Iaşi-Kishinev Operation, the Soviet Army completed the encirclement and rout of a large fascist German army grouping. The German defeat deprived Antonescu’s fascist regime of its military support and radically changed the political situation in Rumania. While the Soviet Army was winning decisive victories, an armed popular uprising organized by the Rumanian Communist Party broke out in Rumania on Aug. 23, 1944. Patriotic armed detachments, joined by army units of the Bucharest garrison, overthrew the Antonescu government. Rumania declared war on fascist Germany on August 24, and the Rumanian Army turned its weapons against the fascist German troops. On August 31 the Soviet Army and the Tudor Vladimirescu First Rumanian Volunteer Division entered Bucharest, which had been liberated by Rumanian patriots. Their presence encouraged the spread of the armed uprising.

The uprising marked the beginning of the people’s revolution, which developed in a complex wartime situation and amid a bitter class struggle over agrarian reform and the democratization of the state machinery. The reactionary forces, which rallied around the “historic” parties and which held a majority in the government, tried to thwart the democratization and to sabotage Rumania’s participation in the war against fascist Germany. The armistice with the USSR and the anti-Hitlerite coalition signed by Rumania in Moscow on Sept. 12, 1944, provided for the recognition of Rumania’s independence and sovereignty and the democratization of its political life. The provisions of the armistice restored the Soviet-Rumanian frontier that had been established by the agreement of June 28, 1940, and abrogated the Vienna Arbitration of 1940. To compensate for the damage caused by military actions and the occupation of Soviet territory, Rumania pledged to pay the Soviet Union reparations in the amount of $300 million, representing one-fifth of the value of the damage. Later the Soviet government reduced the reparations by almost one-third.

On Oct. 25, 1944, Rumania was completely liberated by joint actions of the Soviet Army and Rumanian troops. More than 286,000 Soviet soldiers were killed or wounded in fighting on Rumanian soil. Between Aug. 23 and Oct. 30, 1944, the Rumanian Army lost 58,330 men—killed, wounded, or missing in action. In the final phase of the war Rumanian troops also participated in the liberation of Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

In the struggle for the victory of the democratic system, the Rumanian Communist Party united the movement of the working masses for land and control of local government with the struggle within the central government against the subversive activity of reactionary forces. In October 1944 the National Democratic Front was created on the Communist Party’s initiative to replace the Patriotic Anti-Hitlerite Front, and the unity of action of the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party was strengthened. The democratic forces took over most of the local governing bodies in February 1945. On March 6 popular demonstrations resulted in the formation of the first truly democratic government, headed by P. Groza. The creation of such a government meant a change in the nature of the political system, which became a revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry.

An agrarian reform law adopted on Mar. 22, 1945, legalized the division of landed estates that had been carried out spontaneously by the peasants after the victory of the popular uprising on Aug. 23, 1944. The law provided for the expropriation of all landholdings over the set maximum of 50 hectares and of all land owned by war criminals and persons who had collaborated with the Hitlerites. The agrarian reform eliminated the landlord class and destroyed the feudal vestiges in the countryside. The emerging alliance of the working class and the peasantry became stronger. The government democratized the state machinery, took steps to prevent economic sabotage by reactionary elements and to curb capitalist elements, and established control over the private capitalist sector.

The National Conference of the Rumanian Communist Party, held in October 1945, exhorted the party and the people to consolidate the people’s democratic system and to strengthen the unity of the working class and its alliance with the peasantry. It also called for the industrialization and electrification of the country. The USSR’s aid in restoring and developing the economy, in providing raw materials, and in training skilled personnel for the national economy was of great importance in the struggle for the democratic development of Rumania. The joint Soviet-Rumanian companies that were organized on the initiative of Rumanians also made a substantial contribution to the solution of the above-mentioned problems. The political and diplomatic support of the USSR (Soviet-Rumanian diplomatic relations were restored on Aug. 6, 1945), as well as the temporary stationing of Soviet troops in Rumania, helped frustrate the attempts of reactionary forces to precipitate a civil war in the country.

The peace treaty with Rumania that was signed in Paris on Feb. 10, 1947, reaffirmed the country’s national independence, state sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The USSR prevented the imperialist powers from imposing an onerous peace treaty on Rumania.

In November 1946 the coalition of democratic forces was victorious in the first postwar parliamentary elections, receiving 80 percent of all the votes. Having lost their support among the masses, the leaders of the bourgeois parties resorted to subversion. A plot by the leadership of the National Peasant Party, headed by I. Maniu, was uncovered and suppressed in the summer of 1947, and in July 1947 the party was disbanded by a decision of parliament. On November 5 the members of G. Tătărescu’s Liberal group, who had tried to split the democratic forces, were removed from the government. King Mihai found himself isolated and was obliged to abdicate on December 30, the same day the Rumanian People’s Republic was proclaimed. The working class, headed by the Communist Party, assumed full power in the state.

Building socialism (since 1948). With the proclamation of the Rumanian People’s Republic began the transformation of the people’s democratic revolution into a socialist revolution. The people’s democratic state assumed the functions of a dictatorship of the proletariat. As the revolution developed, the political unity of the working class grew stronger. The Unification Congress of the Communist and Social Democratic parties, held in February 1948, formed the united Rumanian Workers’ Party (RWP) on the ideological basis of Marxism-Leninism. G. Gheorghiu-Dej was elected general secretary of the new party (in 1955 the title was changed to first secretary) and served as head of the party Central Committee until March 1965. Under the leadership of the Rumanian Workers’ Party, all the mass working people’s organizations banded together to form a broad political association, the People’s Democracy Front. In the March 1948 elections to the supreme organ of state power, the Grand National Assembly, the People’s Democracy Front received more than 93 percent of the votes. The first constitution of the Rumanian People’s Republic was adopted in April 1948.

The basic means of production were nationalized in June 1948, thereby eliminating the big bourgeoisie as a class. In the spring of 1949 the people’s democratic government began building socialism in agriculture. Socialist industrialization and the formation of cooperatives in agriculture became the general economic policy of the Rumanian Workers’ Party. The successful fulfillment of the annual national economic plans for 1949–50 made possible long-range planning. In December 1950 the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy (1951–55) was adopted, as well as a ten-year plan for the electrification of the country. Rumania’s political and economic situation was strengthened through the conclusion of treaties of friendship, cooperation, and mutual aid with the USSR (Feb. 4, 1948) and with Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Rumania’s participation in COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) from its inception in 1949 also bolstered the country’s economy. By the end of the first five-year plan Rumania had made great strides in laying the economic foundations of socialism. In 1956 the socialist sector accounted for 71 percent of the national income. The economically backward and underdeveloped Rumania became an industrial nation with a developed agriculture. In 1956 industry and construction accounted for 50.8 percent of the national income, and agriculture and forestry for only 31.9 percent.

Rumania’s international position grew stronger, and its cooperation with the socialist countries expanded. In 1955, Rumania joined the UN and the Warsaw Treaty Organization. In the autumn of 1958, Soviet troops were withdrawn from Rumania by an agreement with the Rumanian government. Soviet troops had remained in Rumania after the war in accordance with the peace treaty of 1947; in 1957 their presence was stipulated in a Soviet-Rumanian agreement concluded in conformity with the Warsaw Pact of 1955. Party and state relations developed on the basis of the principles expounded in the documents of the international conferences of Communist and workers’ parties held in 1957 and 1960, which were attended by delegations of the Rumanian Workers’ Party.

In June 1960 the Third Congress of the Rumanian Workers’ Party (also the Eighth Congress of the Rumanian Communist Party) confirmed that the economic base of a socialist society had been built in Rumania. The Congress set as the party’s main task the development of the material and technical basis for socialism and the completion of the creation of socialist production relations in the entire economy. The establishment of agricultural cooperatives was completed in the spring of 1962. The Ninth Congress of the Rumanian Communist Party, held in July 1965, called for the further development, on a higher level, of socialist construction. The Congress adopted new bylaws and renamed the Rumanian Workers’ Party the Rumanian Communist Party. A plenum of the Central Committee held at the time of the Congress elected N. Ceauşescu general secretary of the Central Committee of the Rumanian Communist Party. Ceauşescu had been serving as first secretary of the Central Committee of the Rumanian Workers’ Party after the death of Gheorghiu-Dej in March 1965.

In August 1965 the Grand National Assembly adopted a new constitution and proclaimed Rumania a socialist republic. The country was renamed the Socialist Republic of Rumania. In 1968 the People’s Democracy Front was replaced by a permanent political organization, the Socialist Unity Front, which included, in addition to the Rumanian Communist Party, all mass, public, and trade union organizations. In August 1969 the Tenth Congress of the Rumanian Communist Party set as the party’s main future tasks the continuous expansion and improvement of the material and technical base and the creation of a fully developed socialist society. The Eleventh Congress, held in November 1974, adopted the “Program of the RCP for Building a Fully Developed Socialist Society and for Rumania’s Progression Toward Communism.” The Congress approved the directives for the five-year plan for 1976–80 and the basic lines of the country’s social and economic development for 1981–90.

The five-year plan for 1971–75 was successfully fulfilled. Industrial production increased at an average annual rate of more than 13 percent, and the average annual increase in agricultural production was more than 25 percent. Between 1971 and 1975, 34 percent of the national income was set aside for accumulation. The year 1976 witnessed Rumania’s highest grain yield, which amounted to 19.8 million tons. Despite the serious damage caused by an earthquake on Mar. 4, 1977, the plan goals for 1977 were essentially fulfilled.

In December 1977, the National Conference of the Rumanian Communist Party discussed measures aimed at the further development of Rumania, both socially and economically. It also worked out steps designed to raise the living standard of the people, strengthen the socialist legal order, and develop socialist democracy. To better satisfy the needs of the people, some special programs were adopted that would develop the material and technical base, as well as sources of raw material in many branches of the national economy, including animal husbandry. The Conference also approved the general lines for the 1981–85 five-year plan of social and economic development and stated that Rumania “will surmount the phase of a developing country by 1985 and will enter the phase of a medium-developed country.” Since Jan. 1, 1978, steps have been taken to reduce the workweek gradually from 48 to 44 hours.

In the international arena the Socialist Republic of Rumania pursues, along with the other socialist countries, a policy of peace and international cooperation. Rumania has signed the Moscow Treaty of 1963 banning nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water, the 1968 treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, and the 1971 treaty prohibiting the emplacement of nuclear weapons on the seabed and ocean floor. Rumania has also participated in a number of important joint undertakings of the fraternal parties and socialist countries, including preparations for the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and has signed the concluding document of the conference (Aug. 1, 1975). Rumania supported the struggle of the peoples of Indochina against the aggression of American imperialism from 1964 to 1972. At the time of the Israeli aggression against the Arab countries in 1967, Rumania urged a political settlement of the problem on the basis of the Security Council resolution of Nov. 22, 1967, concerning a political settlement of the Near East conflict, while maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel.

Between 1968 and 1972, Rumania concluded new agreements on friendship, cooperation, and mutual aid with Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Poland, and Czechoslovakia; a similar treaty was concluded between Rumania and the USSR on July 7, 1970. At the Twenty-fourth session of COMECON, held in Bucharest in July 1971, Rumania adopted, along with the other socialist countries, the Comprehensive Program of Socialist Economic Integration. At the Thirtieth Berlin COMECON session in 1976, Rumania participated in the elaboration of special programs for cooperation between the fraternal countries. That same year Rumania also took part in the work of the Bucharest summit conference of the Warsaw Pact countries.

The leadership of the Socialist Republic of Rumania has repeatedly declared its willingness to work toward strengthening the cohesion of the socialist community and the world communist movement. In 1969 a delegation from the Rumanian Communist Party attended the International Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties and signed the documents adopted at the conference. In 1976 a delegation from the Rumanian Communist Party attended the Berlin Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties of Europe. The Socialist Republic of Rumania was represented at the summit meetings of leaders of the fraternal socialist countries in the Crimea in 1972 and 1973. In November 1976 the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, L. I. Brezhnev, paid a friendly visit to Rumania. In August 1977, Brezhnev and Ceauşescu met in the Crimea. The two leaders discussed the prospects for further developing Soviet-Rumanian production specialization and cooperation in close connection with general COMECON measures.

At the time of the acute crisis in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in August 1968, the Rumanian leadership adopted a position that differed from that of the other Warsaw Pact countries, which were assisting the people of Czechoslovakia in the struggle against domestic and foreign reaction. Political, economic, military, and other ties are developing between the Socialist Republic of Rumania and the People’s Republic of China.

In 1971, Rumania became a party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and in late 1972 it joined the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In accordance with a law adopted in 1971 allowing foreign capital investments in the Rumanian economy on the basis of industrial cooperation, measures are now being taken to expand production ties with developed capitalist countries, primarily with the Common Market members, and to increase the number of mixed companies in which foreign firms participate. In 1977 there were nine companies of this kind in Rumania. The country maintains close ties with developing nations. In 1976, Rumania was a guest at the Fifth Summit Conference of the Nonaligned Countries. In 1977, Rumania maintained diplomatic relations with 130 countries (as against 58 countries in 1964) and trade and economic ties with more than 140 nations.

Rumanian Communist Party (Partidul Comunist Român). Founded in May 1921, the party was called the Socialist-Communist Party of Rumania until late 1922, when it was renamed the Communist Party of Rumania. It was called the Rumanian Workers’ Party from February 1948 to July 1965, when it again took the name Rumanian Communist Party. The party had more than 2.7 million members in 1977.

Socialist Unity Front (Frontul unităţii socialiste). Founded in November 1968, the front unites the Rumanian Communist Party and the leading mass public and trade union organizations. The front also includes republic-level councils of Hungarian and German working people living in Rumania and district councils of Serbian and Ukrainian working people, all of which were formed in 1968.

Trade unions and other social organizations. The General Union of Trade Unions was founded in January 1945. It was called the General Confederation of Labor until 1953 and the Central Council of Trade Unions from 1953 to 1966. It had about 6 million members in 1977.

Founded in March 1922, the Union of Communist Youth had a membership of more than 3 million in 1977. It was called the Union of Working Youth between 1949 and 1965. Among other important social organizations are the National Committee for the Defense of Peace, founded in 1948; the National Women’s Council of the Socialist Republic of Rumania, established in 1958; and the National Union of Agricultural Production Cooperatives, founded in March 1966. The Rumanian Society for Friendly Relations With the Soviet Union, established on Nov. 12, 1944, in Bucharest works closely with the Soviet-Rumanian Friendship Society, organized in May 1958 in Moscow.

E. D. KARPESHCHENKO

General characteristics. In the period of socialist construction Rumania has been transformed from a primarily agricultural country into a predominantly industrial nation with a diversified and developed industry and a cooperative system of farming. The restoration of the economy, which had been destroyed and dislocated in World War II, began after the victory of the people’s revolution.

The nationalization of the basic means of production in 1948 eliminated the bourgeoisie’s economic base, strengthened the socialist sector in the economy, and permitted the planned management of the national economy. The peasants began to form agricultural production cooperatives. By 1974 the socialist sector accounted for 96.6 percent of the national income, 99 percent of the production fixed assets, 99.7 percent of the gross industrial output, and 90.4 percent of the agricultural output. Between 1950, when the level of economic development had almost reached the prewar level, and 1974 the national income increased 9.3 times, the social product 9.5 times, the fixed capital stock 4.8 times, the gross industrial output 19 times, and the agricultural output 2.81 times. The social and economic transformations caused changes in the structure of the economy. Industry’s share in the national income increased from 44 percent in 1950 (30.8 percent in 1938) to 56.6 percent in 1974. In the same period agriculture’s share dropped from 27.8 percent (38.1 percent in 1938) to 15.9 percent.

In the process of industrialization new branches of industry were developed and old branches were modernized. The most intensive development occurred in the branches associated with the modern scientific and technological revolution. Between 1950 and 1974 the output of machine building increased 52 times; electric power, 33 times; the chemical industry, 99 times; ferrous metallurgy, 17 times; the pulp-and-paper industry, 16 times; and the textile, leather-goods and footwear, and food industries, from seven to 11 times. Considerable progress has been made in agriculture thanks to the introduction of new machinery into production, the application of mineral fertilizers, and other agrotechnical measures. Special attention is being given to animal husbandry, whose relative share in the gross agricultural output continues to increase. A more even geographical distribution of productive forces has been achieved.

A member of COMECON, Rumania participates in the Comprehensive Program of Socialist Economic Integration and has concluded agreements with the socialist countries on industrial cooperation and specialization. Within COMECON, Rumania specializes in the production of some types of machinery and equipment, certain chemicals, consumer goods, petroleum products, wood products, steel pipes, aluminum, agricultural raw materials, and foodstuffs. The Eleventh Congress of the Rumanian Communist Party (1974) resolved that the 1976–80 five-year plan would aim at the further rapid development of the material and technical basis of the national economy, at bringing Rumania’s level of development closer to that of the economically advanced socialist countries, and at creating the foundations for a developed socialist society.

Industry. Between 1951 and 1974 the gross industrial output increased at an average annual rate of 13 percent. The group of industries producing means of production have shown the most rapid development. In the years of people’s rule a number of branches of heavy industry have been founded. They include the machine-tool, tractor, and automotive industries; large-tonnage shipbuilding; the manufacture of electric diesel locomotives; the production of equipment for the petroleum, power-engineering, mining, chemical, and other industries; and the electronics and petrochemical industries. Since the victory of the people’s revolution the building materials industry has expanded greatly, and the output of consumer goods has increased markedly to satisfy the steadily rising demand. The export capacity of Rumanian industry is also growing from year to year. Modern technology is being introduced in all branches of the national economy. An important trend in industry is the more intensive exploitation and utilization of natural resources, with substantial structural changes in industry (see Table 2).

MINING AND POWER ENGINEERING. Natural gas and oil account for three-fourths of the production of primary energy. Central Transylvania is Rumania’s chief region for the extraction of

Table 2. Branch structure of industry

Gross output (percent)

Number of workers (percent)

1In parentheses, the share of oil products

Electric power ................

2.7

1.5

Fuel .......................

3.9

3.8

Petroleum .................

2.3

1.4

Ferrous metallurgy .............

7.7

3.3

Nonferrous metallurgy ...........

2.7

2.7

Machine building ..............

30.5

31.0

Chemicals ...................

11.2

6.7

Building materials ..............

3.1

4.5

Forestry and woodworking ........

5.0

11.7

Pulp-and-paper ...............

1.2

1.3

Textiles ....................

7.3

12.0

Clothing ....................

5.2

6.4

Leather goods and footwear .......

1.9

4.0

Food ......................

14.2

8.0

natural gas, primarily methane. More than one-tenth of the extracted gas is used as chemical raw material, and some gas is also exported. Oil, previously extracted only around Ploieşti, is now produced throughout the entire Carpathian piedmont region (from Buzău to Tîrgu-Jiu) and in the adjoining part of the Lower Danubian Lowland. Oil is also extracted near Moineşti in the east and in the Bîrcău Valley and Banat in the west. Rumania’s oil refineries have a capacity of more than 18 million tons; most of them are located in Ploieşti, Brazi, Piteşti, Cîmpina, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, and Dărmăneşti. Rumania also imports about 5 million tons of oil from the Middle East. As much as 6 million tons of petroleum products are exported annually. Coal accounts for about one-fifth of the production of primary energy. The largest coal basins are those of Petroşeni, with an output of 8 million tons of bituminous coal, Motru (lignite), and Rovinari (lignite) in the southwest.

In the production of electricity by steam power plants, the share of natural gas dropped from 74 percent in 1965 to 57 percent in 1974, whereas the proportion of coal is increasing, reaching 35.1 percent in 1974. The share of mazut and other oil products is small, about 5.3 percent. The total installed capacity of electric power plants is 10.6 gigawatts (GW), of which hydroelectric power plants account for 2.4 GW. Hydroelectric power plants produced 17.3 percent of the country’s electric power in 1974.

The Oltenia region holds the greatest promise for the power industry. Existing plants include a steam power plant in Craiova (1 GW); the Iron Gate hydroelectric power plant, built in the 1970’s jointly with Yugoslavia and with the participation of the USSR (the capacity of the Rumanian part exceeds 1 GW); and the Lotru hydroelectric power plant (0.5 GW). In addition, two new steam power plants, fueled by lignite, were under construction in Oltenia in 1975; the Rogojelu (1.7 GW) and Turceni (2.6 GW) plants. Steam power plants are being built in Brăila (1.9 GW) and in Oraviţa (fueled by oil shale; 1 GW). Other mineral resources include iron ore (3.3 million tons in 1974) and bauxites, both found in the Western Rumanian Mountains. Polymetal, copper, and gold-bearing ores are mined in the Eastern Carpathians and in the Western Rumanian Mountains.

MANUFACTURING. The ferrous metallurgy industry is based on metallurgical complexes in Reşiţa (with an annual capacity of about 1 million tons of steel), in Hunedoara (more than 3 million tons), and Galaţi (up to 5 million tons). The first two complexes depend partly on local ore, and the third uses only imported raw materials (10 million tons of iron ore, mainly from the USSR). Scrap-metallurgy plants specialize in the production of high-grade steel and rolled metal. Much of the steel pipe produced in Roman, Iaşi, and Bucharest is exported.

The nonferrous metallurgy industry uses mainly local raw materials and satisfies the country’s demand for aluminum, lead, and zinc and most of its need for copper. Aluminum is smelted at Slatina, and bauxites are converted into alumina near Oradea and in Tulcea. Lead and zinc are produced at Copşa-Mică and Baia-Mare and copper at Baia-Mare.

The leading branches of machine building are the manufacture of vehicles, industrial equipment, and agricultural machinery, together accounting for three-fifths of the output of machinery. Also manufactured are construction machinery, equipment for the power and electrical-engineering industries, and electronic goods. Other branches include precision mechanics and optics, machine-tool production, and instrument-making. There are a number of metalworking and machine repair enterprises. More than two-fifths of the gross output of machine building is concentrated in Bucharest and the Braşov District.

The major centers of transport machine building are Bucharest (buses, railroad cars), Braşov (trucks), Piteşti (passenger cars), Craiova (locomotives), Arad, and Drobeta-Turnu-Severin (freight cars). The port cities of Galaţi, Brăila, Constanţa, Olteniţa, and Drobeta-Turnu-Severin are noted for shipbuilding. Agricultural machinery is manufactured in Braşov (tractors), Bucharest, and Craiova. Bucharest produces various types of industrial equipment; Ploieşti specializes in equipment for the oil-extracting, oil-refining, and chemical industries; and Cluj-Napoca, Tîrgu-Mureş, and Sibiu make equipment for light and food industries. Machine tools are made in Arad, Bucharest, Oradea, and Tîrgovişte, power-engineering equipment in Bucharest and Reşiţa, electrical-engineering products in Bucharest, Braşov, Craiova, Timişoara, and Tîrgu-Mureş, and construction machinery in Brăila.

CHEMICALS. The chemical industry has access to a rich raw material base that includes oil, natural gas, rock salt, and sulfur. Inorganic chemical products account for about one-fifth of the industry’s gross output. Soda and chlorine are produced near rock salt deposits (at Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Govora, Ocna-Mureş, Turda, and Tîrnăveni), and sulfuric acid is manufactured near metallurgical plants (Baia-Mare, Copşa-Mică, Zlatna) or near phosphate fertilizer plants. Mineral fertilizer plants contribute one-tenth of the chemical industry’s output. Phosphate fertilizer enterprises, using imported raw materials, are located in port cities on the Black Sea (Năvodari) or on the Danube (Turnu-Măgurele). Nitrogen fertilizer plants, more evenly distributed throughout the major agricultural regions, are found at Craiova, Turnu-Măgurele, and Slobozia in the south, Piatra-Neamţ in the east, and Tîrgu-Mureş, Făgăraş, and Victoria in the central part of the country.

Synthetic rubber, plastics, resins, and chemical fibers account for one-third of the chemical industry’s output. Synthetic rubber is manufactured at Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. Plastics and resins are produced by chemical combines at Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Craiova, and Rîmnicu-Vîlcea, by petrochemical combines at Brazi and Piteşti, and by chemical plants at Bucharest, Făgăraş, Victoria, and Tîrnăveni. Artificial chemical fibers are manufactured at Brăila, Lupeni, and Bucharest and synthetic fibers at Iaşi, Săvineşti, Victoria, and Bucharest.

The rubber industry, contributing more than one-fifth of the chemical output, is represented by a combine in Jilava and tire plants in Bucharest and Floreşti. The pharmaceutical industry gravitates toward the old scientific centers of Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, and Iaşi. Carbon black is produced in Copşa-Mică, Piteşti, and Rîmnicu Vîlcea, and varnish and dyes are made in Bucharest and Codlea. Rumania exports nitrogen fertilizers, synthetic rubber, rubber products, soda, carbon black, varnish, dyes, fibers, phenol, methyl alcohol, and calcium carbide.

BUILDING MATERIALS. More than half of the country’s cement is produced by new large plants in Bîrseşti, Bicaz, and Medgidia. The manufacture of high-grade glass using local raw materials and natural gas is developing at Mediaş, Tîrnăveni, and Sighişoara.

WOODWORKING. The wood-products industry has access to enormous timber reserves. There are many integrated enterprises producing lumber, plywood, fiberboard, chipboard, parquet, and barrel staves, as well as such finished products as furniture (a leading export), prefabricated houses, crates, sports equipment, and musical instruments. Most of the large woodworking combines are in Bucharest, Brăila, Blaj, Piteşti, Tîrgu-Jiu, and Oradea. The pulp-and-paper industry processes timber (plants at Suceava, Bacău, Zărneşti, Piatra-Neamţ), reeds (Brăila), and straw (Călăraşi, Constanţa).

TEXTILES. The textile industry produces cotton, wool, silk, linen, hemp, and synthetic fabrics. Tricot production is developing rapidly. The old wool manufacturing centers are in the Carpathian piedmonts (Sibiu, Buhuşi, Braşov, Ploieşti); Constanţa is the major new center. Cotton enterprises predominate in such large consumer centers as Iaşi, Galaţi, Timişoara, Arad, Oradea, Bucharest, and Piteşti; Botoşani is a new center. Bucharest, the largest textile and clothing center, accounts for more than one-fourth of the output.

FOOD PROCESSING. The food industry processes a variety of agricultural raw materials and produces mainly for the domestic market. Under people’s rule the traditional semicottage production has been replaced by modern factories and plants. Many of the new food-processing enterprises are being built in agricultural regions. Exports include canned fruit and vegetables, vegetable oil, grape wines, and, to a lesser extent, meat and meat products, animal fat, and cheese. (Table 3 shows the output of the major industrial goods.)

Table 3. Output of major industrial products

1938

1950

1960

1970

1Primary and alloys 2Including yarn

Electric power (billion kW-hr) ........................

1.1

2.1

7.7

49.1

Coal (million tons) ...........................

2.8

3.9

8.2

29.2

Lignite (million tons)...........................

0.3

0.8

3.1

20.0

Oil (million tons) ...............................

6.6

5.0

11.5

14.5

Natural gas (billion cu m)..........................

2.0

3.4

10.3

30.1

Steel (million tons)............................

0.3

0.6

1.8

8.8

Aluminum (tons) .............................

—

—

—

187,0001

Sulfuric acid, 100% (tons) .....................

44,000

52,000

226,000

1,358,000

Mineral fertilizers, in terms of nutrients (tons) ..............

—

600

71,000

1,410,000

Plastics and resins (tons)........................

—

400

12,400

283,000

Chemical fibers (tons)........................

900

2,300

4,100

159,0002

Synthetic (tons)...........................

—

—

900

96,000

Trucks (units)....................

—

—

8,400

31,500

Passenger cars (units) ...................

—

1,200

67,500

Tractors (units)............................

—

3,500

17,100

44,600

Metalworking machine tools (units) .............

—

—

4,400

24,800

Lumber (million cu m)......................

2.2

3.6

3.9

4.8

Cement (million tons).................

0.5

1.0

3.1

11.2

Cotton fabrics (million sq m)................

104

148

248

612

Sugar (tons)....................

95,000

87,000

391,000

516,000

Vegetable oil (tons) .....................

18,000

36,000

118,000

332,000

Canned fruit and vegetables (tons)............

2,400

33,000

75,000

504,000

Table 4. Sown area and yield of leading crops

Sown area (hectares)

Yield (tons)

1938

1960

1965

1974

1938

1960

1965

1974

Wheat and rye..........

3,024,000

2,935,000

3,086,000

2,429,000

3,961,000

3,553,000

6,062,000

5,049,000

Corn................

3,878,000

3,572,000

3,306,000

2,944,000

4,092,000

5,531,000

5,877,000

7,440,000

Barley...............

692,000

266,000

233,000

403,000

502,000

405,000

485,000

917,000

Sugar beets ...........

33,000

200,000

190,000

219,000

485,000

3,127,000

3,013,000

4,947,000

Sunflowers...........

67,000

480,000

462,000

509,000

58,000

522,000

564,000

681,000

Potatoes .............

135,000

292,000

298,000

295,000

1,331,000

3,009,000

2,195,000

4,119,000

Vegetables (open ground)

78,000

191,000

181,000

230,000

451,000

1,831,000

1,655,000

2,955,000

Tobacco ............

11,000

22,000

38,000

53,000

9,000

16,000

35,000

39,000

Flax ...............

14,000

23,500

23,000

51,000

13,000

42,000

53,000

101,000

Agriculture. In 1974 the socialist sector accounted for 95.3 percent of the plowland, 92.8 percent of the pastures, 57 percent of the hayfields, 96.7 percent of the vineyards, and 78.9 percent of the orchards. Within the socialist sector, state agricultural enterprises own 4.5 million hectares (ha) of agricultural land, of which 2.1 million ha are owned by 370 state farms employing 245,000 people. The country’s 4,420 agricultural production cooperatives, to which 3.4 million families belong, own 9 million ha of farmland, of which more than 8 million ha are socialized land and about 1 million ha are garden plots allocated to members of the agricultural cooperatives. There are also specialized livestock raising farms. The state farms and production cooperatives are served by 743 stations for the mechanization of agriculture, employing 119,000 people. In 1974, Rumania had 116,800 tractors (units), 28,000 grain combines, 3,500 corn-harvesting combines, and 12,200 self-propelled combines. The amount of mineral fertilizer applied rose from 74,500 tons in 1960 to 814,000 tons in 1974. Irrigated agricultural land, totaling 1.2 million ha, is found mainly in the southeast.

Agricultural land occupies 14.9 million ha, or 62.9 percent of the country’s territory. Of the cultivated land, 9.7 million ha are plowland and 770,000 ha are under vineyards and orchards. Natural meadows cover 1.4 million ha, pastures 3 million ha.

Although crops predominate in the gross agricultural output, their share of the output is steadily declining, having dropped from 65 percent in 1960 to 59 percent in 1973, and the importance of animal husbandry is increasing.

CROP CULTIVATION. In 1973 grain and legumes accounted for 62.1 percent of the sown area, fodder crops for 18.4 percent, industrial crops for 12.7 percent, potatoes for 3.0 percent, and open-ground vegetables for 2.5 percent (see Table 4). The main grain crops are corn and wheat, and the chief industrial crops are sunflowers and sugar beets. The area sown to oats is decreasing, and the cultivation of rice, a new crop, is rapidly expanding. Fiber crops, such as hemp and flax, are grown on the Transylvanian Plateau, and tobacco, flax, and essential oil crops are raised in the South and Northeast.

In fruit growing, the proportion of plum trees increased markedly between 1938 and 1974 while that of apple and other fruit trees declined. The plum harvest increased from 20 percent to 50 percent of the total fruit harvest, and the relative share of apples dropped from 41 percent to 23 percent. Garden plots and individual farms produce more than three-fifths of the country’s fruit and one-third of its grapes. The area under vineyards, excluding nurseries, totaled 300,000 ha in 1974; the grape harvest was 1.1 million tons, of which half was produced

Table 5. Livestock and poultry

1938

1960

1975

Cattle........................

3.7

4.5

6.0

cows and buffalo cows............

1.8

2.2

3.0

Hogs .....

2.8

4.3

8.6

Horses ......

1.6

1.0

0.6

Sheep and goats ......

10.5

11.9

14.4

Poultry ......

27.3

38.0

67.7

in the South and one-third in the Northeast.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY. The summer mountain pastures of the Carpathians serve as the fodder base for sheep herding and meat cattle raising, the traditional branches. In 1974 the milk yield averaged 1,606 liters per cow and the wool yield 2.2 kg per sheep. (See Tables 5 and 6 for the number of livestock and poultry and for the output of animal husbandry.)

FISHING. The fish catch rose from 16,000 tons in 1960 to 105,000 tons in 1973. Among the most valuable fish are carp, bream, pike, pike perch, catfish, Danubian herring, flounder, mackerel, trout, and several species of the sturgeon family, including the beluga, Russian sturgeon, and stellate sturgeon.

Table 6. Output of livestock products

1938

1960

1974

Meat ............

760,000

943,000

1,977,000

Milk .............

2,158,000

3,242,000

4,348,000

Wool ............

15,100

21,900

31,000

Butter ............

—

12,600

30,300

Eggs (millions) ......

1,354

2,355

4,871

FORESTRY. Rumania ranks first among the socialist countries, excluding the USSR, in the export of commercial wood and firewood (22–23 million cu m).

Transportation. Rumania’s geographic position makes it an important junction of routes connecting Central Europe with the Black Sea coast and the Danube.

Rumania has more than 11,000 km of railroads (1974), of which about 8 percent are electrified. Highways total 77,600 km, including about 60,000 km of paved roads and more than 12,000 km of improved roads. About 1,700 km of inland waterways are used for navigation; the Danube is the main river route. The total freight turnover of the ports exceeds 20 million tons, 11.7 million tons of which are handled by Constanţa (1974), Rumania’s chief seaport. The Danubian ports of Galaţi and Brăila are also important. Air transport is handled by TAROM (Transporturi Aeriene Romane); Bucharest has an international airport.

Rumania has more than 2,000 km of oil pipelines connecting the oil fields with oil-refining centers and ports. Most of the lines bring petroleum from the Ploieşti oil fields to Galaţi, Constanţa, and Giurgiu. Gas pipelines run from central Transylvania to almost all the major cities and industrial centers. (See Table 7 for the freight turnover.)

Foreign trade. In the years of socialist construction foreign trade has expanded rapidly (see Table 8). Important changes have also occurred in foreign trade (see Table 9).

Rumania’s share of the foreign trade of the COMECON countries rose from 5.1 percent in 1960 to 6.6 percent in 1973. The socialist countries account for 49.6 percent of Rumania’s foreign trade turnover; 43.2 percent of this trade is carried on with the COMECON countries, including 20 percent with the USSR. Rumania and the USSR have cooperated closely in economic, scientific, and technical matters. From 1948 to 1973 more than 100 enterprises and installations in such leading branches as metallurgy, machine building, and the chemical and pulp-and-paper industries were built with the technical assistance of the USSR. The USSR has provided Rumania with about 3,000 sets of technical documents for making machinery and equipment and for building industrial enterprises, and Rumania gave the USSR more than 1,100 sets of technical documents. Agreements have been concluded on the joint construction in Rumania of a nuclear power plant, a plant for producing caustic soda, chlorine, and chlorine products, and a hydroengineering complex on the Prut river. Rumania is participating in the construction of several large industrial installations in the Soviet Union.

The advanced capitalist countries account for 41.7 percent of Rumania’s foreign trade. The principal trading partners are the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, France, and Great Britain. Rumania buys from the advanced capitalist countries industrial equipment and sells them agricultural products, lumber, some types of chemicals, rolled metal, and petroleum products. The share of the developing countries in Rumania’s foreign trade turnover is 7.9 percent. Rumania receives from these countries oil, phosphorite, iron ore, natural rubber, cotton, and some food products, and sends them equipment for the petroleum industry, vehicles, agricultural machinery, wood, and building materials.

Tourism is an important source of revenue. Some 3.9 million tourists visited the country in 1974.

The monetary unit is the leu; by the exchange rate of the State Bank of the USSR as of July 1975, 100 lei equaled 15 rubles.

Regional differences. Although no official views on economic regionalization have been formulated, four regions may be distinguished on the basis of their economic development: the South, the Center and North, the West, and the Northeast.

Bounded by the Carpathians to the north, the Danube to the south, and the Black Sea to the east, the Southern Region accounts for two-fifths of the country’s area and more than two-fifths of its population. It includes the districts of Argeş, Buzău, Bucharest, Brăila, Vîlcea, Gorj, Dolj, Dîmboviţa, Ilfov, Constanţa, Mehedinţi, Olt, Prahova, Teleorman, Tulcea, and Ialomiţa. The region has a variety of mineral resources (oil, coal, natural gas, and rock salt), large reserves of hydroelectric power, sizable forest tracts, extensive areas of fertile land, and a geography that facilitates transportation. The region’s economic development owes a great deal to the presence of Bucharest, the country’s capital, which produces two-fifths of the region’s industrial output. The principal industries of the piedmont area are oil extraction and refining, the production of energy and chemicals, and diversified machine building. (Ploieşti and Piteşţi). Shipbuilding and the food industry are well developed in the Danubian cities. The South is Rumania’s granary and a major producer and processor of meat, grapes, fruit, and vegetables. The region accounts for about half of the country’s industrial and agricultural output.

The Center and North, comprising the districts of Alba, Bistriţa-Năsăud, Braşov, Cluj, Covasna, Maramureş, Mureş, Satu-Mare, Sibiu, Salaj, and Harghita, has about one-fourth of the country’s territory and about one-fifth of its population. The industry of this vast region, contributing about one-fourth of Rumania’s gross industrial output, is based mainly on large reserves of methane, a valuable fuel and chemical raw material. The region’s industries produce chemical products, machinery, various consumer goods, foodstuffs and condiments, nonferrous metals, wood products, and glass and porcelain. Braşov, is the second largest machine-building and wool-industry center after Bucharest. Cluj-Napoca produces equipment for light industry and the food industry, leather goods and footwear, clothing, and foodstuffs. Sibiu has machine-building, textile, and food-processing enterprises. Tîrgu-Mureş is noted for its electrical-engineering, chemical, furniture, and food industries; Baia-Mare for its nonferrous metallurgy; and Satu-Mare for its mining machine building and clothing and food industries. Agriculture, contributing about one-fifth of Rumania’s gross agricultural output, is oriented toward livestock raising for meat and milk. Much of the arable land is planted to sugar beets and fiber crops.

The West, encompassing the districts of Arad, Bihor, Caraş-Severin, Timiş, and Hunedoara, accounts for more than one-sixth of Rumania’s territory and about one-eighth of its population. It stretches from the Carpathians in the east to the national border in the west. In the eastern mountainous part, rich in deposits of ferrous, nonferrous, and precious-metal ores, hard coal, and timber, several industrial centers have developed, notably the Reşiţa and Hunedoara metallurgical centers and the cluster of mining towns in the Petroşeni coal basin. The West is Rumania’s chief coal and metallurgical base.

In the plains the industrial cities of Timişoara, Arad, and Oradea arose along the transportation routes, following river valleys, that led toward Hungary and Yugoslavia. In the years of socialist construction these cities, traditional centers of light industry and food processing, have seen the development of machine building and electrical engineering. Timişoara has also acquired a chemical industry. The eastern edge of the Middle Danubian Lowland is an important agricultural region, producing grain and industrial crops and livestock products. The West supplies about 15 percent of Rumania’s industrial and agricultural output.

Table 8. Foreign trade turnover

1950

1960

1970

1974

Total .................

2.7

8.2

22.9

49.8

Exports ...............

1.3

4.3

11.1

24.2

Imports ...............

1.4

3.9

11.8

25.6

Lying between the Carpathians in the west and the Prut River in the east, the Northeast includes the districts of Bacău, Botoşani, Vaslui, Vrancea, Galaţi, Neamţ, Suceava, and Iaşi. It occupies about one-fifth of the country’s area and has more than one-fifth of its population. Formerly a typical agricultural region, the Northeast is now an industrial and farming region producing about 16 percent of the country’s industrial output and about 19 percent of its agricultural produce. The most rapidly developing industry is the chemical industry, which uses petroleum products (plants at Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Dărmăneşti), local rock salt (Tîrgu-Ocna and Cacica), and electric power, supplied by the Borzeşti steam power plant and the chain of 13 hydroelectric power plants on the Bistriţa River. The main products are synthetic rubber, chemical fibers, mineral fertilizers, and plastics. Also important are ferrous metallurgy and woodworking, including the pulp-and-paper industry, which has access to vast forest tracts. Ball bearings and boats are produced for export. Most of the industrial centers, including Suceava, Roman, Bacău, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Piatra-Neamţ, and Galaţi, are in the central part of the region, along the Siret River and its left tributaries. Iaşi is the historic, economic, and cultural center of the region.

Standard of living. The success achieved in the development of the socialist economy assure a steady rise in the living

Table 9. Commodity structure of exports and imports

1950

1960

1974

Export

Import

Export

Import

Export

Import

Machinery and equipment..............

4.2

38.3

16.7

33.6

20.6

34.0

Fuel, mineral raw materials, and metals1 .....

33.8

4.5

36.9

34.3

21.9

32.1

(30.1)

(24.3)

(11.0)

Raw materials, animal and vegetable

(excluding food raw material)...........

28.9

21.4

14.7

13.4

7.2

10.5

Food raw material and food .............

25.7

1.0

21.2

4.7

20.3

8.2

Manufactured consumer goods...........

1.3

10.2

5.8

5.2

15.8

3.9

Chemical products, fertilizers, and rubber ....

1.7

4.5

2.2

7.4

11.2

10.1

Building materials ...................

4.4

1.1

2.5

1.1

3.0

1.0

standard of the working people. The per capita national income increased ten times from 1948 to 1974. Between 1960 and 1970 alone, the consumption fund increased 1.9 times, and steps have been taken to raise the wages of all groups of workers and office employees. The average monthly wage rose from 1,115 lei in 1965 to 1,563 lei in 1973. Furthermore, the earnings of different groups of workers and employees are being equalized. The labor force is steadily growing, and its structure is changing: the number of workers and office employees in the nonagricultural branches is increasing. A guaranteed minimum income was established for peasants in agricultural cooperatives in 1970.

The pensions provided by the state social security system are rising. In 1975 the minimum pension for persons entitled to a full pension was 658 lei. A uniform pension system for peasants in agricultural cooperatives was introduced in 1966. An allowance for every child was established for workers and office employees in 1956 and for peasants in cooperatives in 1972. State appropriations for social and cultural measures rose from 6.5 billion lei in 1955 to 47.8 billion lei in 1974. Real wages tripled from 1950 to 1973.

State expenditures on a family of four rose from 3,643 lei in 1958 to 5,500 lei in 1970 and 7,500 lei in 1975. About 3 million apartments were built in cities and villages between 1947 and 1972, and about 10 million citizens received new apartments. A large proportion of the housing construction is financed out of central state funds. In 1972, 90 percent of the villages had electricity. Between 1950 and 1973 the retail commodity turnover increased nine times to 121.3 billion lei. The volume of consumer goods sold has increased, especially in the socialist trade network, and the sale of durable goods has expanded. The volume of consumer services is increasing faster than the sale of goods to the population.

The Rumanian armed forces consist of ground troops, a navy, air defense troops, including an air force, and border troops. The president is the supreme commander in chief, and the minister of national defense has direct supervision over the armed forces.

The Tudor Vladimirescu First Rumanian Volunteer Division, formed in the USSR in 1943–44, fought in the Iasj-Kishinev Operation against the fascist German troops as part of the Second Ukrainian Front. In August 1944 this division and Soviet troops entered Bucharest, which had been liberated by Rumanian patriots. In October 1944, Soviet and Rumanian troops completed the liberation of Rumania from the fascist German forces. Rumanian troops fought alongside Soviet soldiers in the liberation of Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

The armed forces are recruited on the basis of universal military service. The term of active duty for privates and sergeants is 16 months in the army and air defense forces and two years in the navy and border troops. The draft age is 18 years for citizens with a secondary education and 20 years for other citizens. Commanders are trained at the military academy and in military schools. The armed forces are equipped with missiles of various types, modern tanks, artillery, combat planes, and warships.

Since the founding of the Warsaw Treaty Organization in 1955, the armed forces of the Socialist Republic of Rumania have participated in joint measures aimed at strengthening the United Armed Forces in order to ensure peace and security in Europe. October 25, the day Rumania was completely liberated from the fascist German troops, is celebrated as Armed Forces Day.

Medicine and public health. In 1974 the birth rate was 20.3 and the death rate 9.1 per 1,000 inhabitants; the infant mortality rate was 35 per 1,000 live births. (The corresponding figures for 1950 are 26.2, 12.4, and 116.7.) The average life expectancy in 1970–72 was 68.6 years, 66.3 years for men and 70.8 years for women.

The main causes of death are cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and malignant tumors. Malaria, relapsing fever, and trachoma have been eradicated; since 1962 only cases of imported malaria have been recorded. The incidence of diphtheria, poliomyelitis, and tetanus has been reduced to a minimum. Infectious diseases include influenza, children’s infections, epidemic hepatitis, tuberculosis, dysentery, paratyphoid, and meningococcic infections. The most common parasitic diseases are helminthiases, including ascariasis, trichuriasis, hymenolepiasis, trichinosis, taeniasis, taeniarhynchosis, and strongyloidosis. Endemic goiter is widespread in the mountains and the piedmonts, and cases of tick-borne encephalitis have been recorded in the forest regions. Geohelminthiases prevail in the uplands with a cooler climate and abundant vegetation, and hymenolepiasis occurs most frequently in the dry steppe regions. Trichinosis is encountered chiefly in the northeast and in wooded hill regions, although it also occurs in the Danubian Lowland. Vaccinations against tetanus, typhus and paratyphoid, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and poliomyelitis are readily available.

Rumania has a state public health system that provides the entire population with free medical care. The Higher Public Health Council and the Ministry of Public Health are the central agencies in charge of coordinating, supervising, and managing the public health system. The Ministry of Labor has jurisdiction over social security, and the Ministry of Education supervises the secondary and higher medical schools. District public health boards—specialized agencies of the local state administration—are responsible for the protection of health within each district. They are subordinate to the Ministry of Public Health and to the district people’s councils. The State Central Inspectorate and the state district inspectorates direct and supervise work relating to public health and hygiene.

The basic public health institution in rural medical districts is the medical dispensary; in cities it is the combined hospital, which includes a hospital, a polyclinic, and a first aid division. Outpatient care for pregnant women is provided by specialized polyclinics that are not part of the public health facilities of a medical district. In 1973 there were more than 600 hospitals with 186,200 beds, or 8.9 beds per 1,000 inhabitants (2.2 in 1938), 397 polyclinics (37 in 1938), and about 4,000 dispensaries serving medical districts. In 1974, Rumania had 33,300 doctors (8,200 in 1938), or one per 630 inhabitants (1,895 in 1938), and 117,400 paramedical personnel (11,400 in 1938). Doctors and pharmacists are trained at five institutes of medicine and pharmacy, which graduated 1,700 doctors and 267 pharmacists in 1973. Paramedical personnel are trained at 55 medical schools and lycées, which graduated 7,000 persons in 1973. Public health expenditures amounted to 9.2 billion lei in 1974 (44.5 million lei in 1950), or 4.7 percent of the state budget.

Almost all the known types of mineral waters are found in Rumania, including thermal, alkaline, sulfur, iodine, and carbonic-acid waters. There are more than 100 balneological and 23 climatic resorts, and mineral springs are found in 36 localities. In 1972 the country’s health resorts and sanatoriums had a total of 45,400 beds. The best-known resorts are Eforie, Mamaia, Băile Herculane, Felix, Băile Govora, Călimăneşti, Sovata, Băile Olăneşti, Vatra Dornei, and Borsec. The number of people receiving resort and sanatorium treatment rose from 201,200 in 1950 to 1,231,300 in 1973.

N. N. DARCHENKOVA and IA. D. POGORELOV

Veterinary medicine. Such diseases as rinderpest, epidemic pneumonia of cattle, sheep pox, glanders, and dourine have been eradicated, and the incidence of brucellosis and tuberculosis has been sharply reduced. Outbreaks of several diseases still occur, among them anthrax (28 outbreaks in 1974), swine erysipelas (28), swine fever (47), Newcastle disease (25), fowl cholera (303), and blackleg (28). Hemorrhagic cystitis is endemic in some parts of the Carpathians and cattle pasteurellosis at higher elevations on the Transylvanian Plateau. Fascioliasis is encountered where pastures are swampy, and rabies occurs among wild animals in mountain forests.

The central veterinary agencies are the Veterinary Services Office, the Scientific Control Laboratory for Biological Products and Medicaments, and the Central Control Laboratory for Food Products and Fodders, all of which are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Food Industry, and Waters. Scientific research is conducted mainly at the Institute of Veterinary Research and Biological Products, which has experimental facilities and a special department for the study of foot-and-mouth disease. There are veterinary departments at the agricultural institutes in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iaşi, and Timişoara. In 1973, Rumania had 3,200 veterinarians.

The first schools, founded in the 11th century, were church schools in which the language of instruction was Latin or Old Church Slavonic. Municipal schools appeared in the 14th century. In 1495 a school was established at the St. Nicholas Church in Braşov. The first institutions of higher learning, founded by the hospodars (princes), were a Slavonic and Greek academy in Iaşi (1640) and a Greek academy in Bucharest (late 17th century).

After the unification of the Rumanian principalities, a law adopted in 1864 made elementary education compulsory for children between the ages of eight and 12 years, but the law was poorly implemented. In 1906, 82.67 percent of the population was illiterate. There was some expansion of the educational system from 1918 to 1944: 31.8 percent of the urban children and 5.2 percent of the rural children attended secondary schools between 1922 and 1933. Reactionary and chauvinist education laws were passed under the fascist military dictatorship (1940–44).

After the establishment of the people’s democratic system, the goals and tasks of education and upbringing changed radically, and a unified educational system was created. In 1948 the school system came under the control of the government and was separated from the church. The present public educational system is based on a law enacted in 1968. Between the ages of three and six children attend kindergartens. At the age of six they enter the eight-year general education middle school, which is divided into two cycles: a primary cycle (grades 1 through 4) and a Gymnasium cycle (grades 5 through 8).

After completing the middle school, students go on to the lycée, whose curriculum of four or five years is divided into a first level (grades 1 and 2) and a second level (grades 3 and 4[5]). Students must pass competitive examinations to be admitted to the second level. The eight-year school and the first level of the lycée are compulsory. The general education lycées have two divisions, one emphasizing science and the other the humanities. Among the specialized lycées are four-year economic and agricultural lycées and five-year industrial, pedagogical, and public-health lyées, all offering a specialized secondary education. Graduates of lycées may enroll in institutions of higher learning. Schools offering one or two years of specialized post-lycée training are also available to graduates of the general education lycées.

Vocational education is provided by vocational and technical schools offering two or three years of training to those who have completed eight grades and one or two years of training to those who have completed ten grades. There are also schools for apprentices and schools for foremen, both offering one or two years of training.

In late 1974 the country’s 13,300 kindergartens had an enrollment of 700,000. In the 1973–74 school year there were 15,200 general schools and general lycées with more than 3 million students, 427 specialized lycées with 179,600 students, 137 schools of posi-lycée specialization with 27,400 students, and 459 schools giving vocational training to 353,500 students.

The system of higher education includes universities, institutes, teacher-training institutes (providing a semi-higher education), and institutes for assistant engineers (providing an incomplete higher education). The term of study is four or five years at the universities, 4½ or 5½ years at the higher technical schools, three years at the teacher-training institutes, and three years in the divisions of technical institutes and institutes where assistant engineers and work superintendents are trained. Preschool personnel and primary school teachers are trained at five-year teachers lycées; teachers for the Gymnasium cycle, at teachers institutes; and lycée instructors, at universities and higher technical schools.

Rumania had 47 institutions of higher learning with an enrollment of 143,700 students in the 1973–74 academic year. There are universities in Bucharest (founded in 1864), Iaşi (1860), Cluj-Napoca (1872), Timişoara (1962), Craiova (1966), and Braşov (1971); polytechnic institutes in Bucharest, Iaşi, Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, and Galaţi; and medical and pharmacy institutes in Bucharest, Iaşi, Cluj-Napoca, and other cities.

Three of the country’s largest libraries are in Bucharest: the Library of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Rumania (founded in 1867), containing more than 6,955,000 holdings, the Central State Library (1955), with about 6.2 million holdings, and the Central University Library (1864), with approximately 1,938,000 holdings. The Central University Library in Cluj-Napoca (1872) has 2,592,000 holdings.

Rumania had 357 museums in 1974. Outstanding museums in Bucharest include the Art Museum of the Socialist Republic of Rumania (founded in 1950), the Museum of Folk Art (1906), the G. Antipa Museum of Natural Science (1834), and the Museum of the History of the Rumanian Communist Party and of the Revolutionary and Democratic Movement (1948). Also important are the History Museum (1796) in Aiud and the M. Eminescu Memorial Museum (1950) in Ipoteşti. There are also museums in Braşov, Galaţi, Cluj-Napoca, Constanţa, Craiova, Sarmizegetusa, and other cities.

REFERENCES

Natural and technical sciences. The tribes that inhabited present-day Rumania in ancient times accumulated practical knowledge: the Getae and Dacians knew iron working and mining and built wooden, earthen, and stone structures. The Romans built bridges, roads, military fortifications, and other structures in the area. Various crafts and trades flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries, including pottery-making, the manufacture of cloth and bricks, the extraction of salt, oil, and other minerals, and charcoal burning. Water mills were also built at this time. The first printed book came out in 1508.

From the 16th century attempts were made to reorganize the educational system and to establish higher schools staffed by teachers from Kiev, Vienna, Kraków, and Padua. A college was founded in Cotnari in 1562, and monastery colleges were organized in Iaşi (1640) and in Bucharest, the latter becoming the Princely Academy in 1694. A college founded in Alba Iulia in 1622 was reorganized as a university in 1629. Colleges were also established in Tîrgovişte (1646) and other cities. Many young people studied abroad.

The accumulation of technical knowledge continued, and advances were made in mining and the smelting of metals. For a long time the natural sciences were taught in the Aristotelian tradition; the ideas of Descartes, Galileo, and Newton were introduced only gradually, primarily by graduates of foreign universities. Foreign textbooks were used to some extent, including works by J. B. van Helmont and C. Wolff. In the late 18th century school instruction was gradually reorganized, the teaching of the “new” physics was introduced, and a larger number of technical disciplines were taught.

In the 19th century the more intensive exploitation of the country’s natural resources and the emergence of a national industry promoted research in the natural sciences and technology. The first scientific monographs and textbooks on mathematics, physics, chemistry, agriculture, and medicine were written by G. Asachi, Iu. Baraş, T. Stamati, and A. Costinescu. These works contributed to the development of a Rumanian scientific terminology. Schools for training land-use surveyors were founded in Iaşi and Bucharest in 1818; the National School of Medicine and Surgery was established in 1857; and the National School of Bridge and Road Building was opened in 1864. The Universities of Iaşi (1860), Bucharest (1864), and Cluj (1872) were organized out of existing colleges and academies.

A physics laboratory set up in Iaşi in 1840 and specialized research institutions in meteorology (1884), bacteriology (1886), and botany (1894) were subsequently reorganized as research institutes. An astronomical observatory was founded in 1908. Several learned societies also conducted research, among them the Society of Physicians and Naturalists in Iaşi (1833) and, in Bucharest, the Society of Natural Scientists (1865), the Rumanian Literary Society (1866, renamed the Rumanian Academy in 1879), the Rumanian Society of Geographical Sciences (1875), the Society of Polytechnical Sciences (1881), and the Society of Physical Sciences (1890).

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries national scientific schools emerged in agriculture (I. Ionescu de la Brad), geology (G. Cobălcescu, G. Ştefănescu, S. Ştefănescu, G. Munteanu-Murgoci, L. Mrazec), geography (S. Mehedinţi, G. Vâlsan), meteorology (Ş. Hepites), hydrobiology (G. Antipa), and biospeleology (E. Racoviţă). Initiated by C. Davila and N. Kalinderu, medical research reached a high level in the work of such world famous scholars as the bacteriologist V. Babeş, the microbiologist and epidemiologist I. Cantacuzino, and G. Marinescu, the founder of the Rumanian school of neurology. M. Minovici did important work in forensic medicine, N. Paulescu in surgery, C. Parhon in endocrinology, and G. Udrischi in veterinary medicine.

Between the two world wars research institutes of microbiology (1921), zootechny (1926), agriculture (1927), and forestry (1934) were founded in Bucharest. The University of Cluj set up institutes of geology and paleontology (1918), mineralogy and petrography (1919), geography (1919), and theoretical and applied physics (1920). The Marine Zoology Station was established in Constanţa in 1926, and the Geological Society was organized in Bucharest in 1930.

The establishment of people’s rule stimulated the all-round development of the natural and technical sciences. Existing scientific research institutions were reorganized and new ones were established. A number of new institutes were founded in Bucharest, including those of geography (1944), mathematics (1949), metrology (1951), nuclear physics (1956, with a reactor, cyclotron, and betatron), polymer chemistry (1957), endocrinology (1946), physiology (1949), virology (1949), and oncology (1949). Institutes were also set up for the study of cereals and industrial crops (1957, Fundulea) and for the mechanization of agriculture (1952). Research centers were established for the study of the mechanics of solids (1949), hydraulics (1951), and physical chemistry (1963), and information and documentation centers were organized in medicine (1951), in the oil and chemical industries (1956), and in building and architecture (1958). The Documentation Center of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Rumania was founded in 1965. The Rumanian Academy was reorganized in 1948. While traditional research continues, promising new fields of science and technology are being opened up, and the technical and applied sciences are being given greater attention.

A contemporary school of mathematics has emerged, whose leading exponents are D. Barbilian, V. Vâlcovici, O. Onicescu, G. Vrânceanu, M. Nicolescu, G. Mihoc, N. Teodorescu, N. Cristescu, T. Popovici, and C. Iacob. Rumanian mathematicians are working on the topological theory of analytic functions, functional analysis, the algebra of logic and theory of finite automata, mathematical statistics, hydromechanics and the theory of elasticity, and operations research. The country’s physicists are developing new fields of theoretical physics, are studying plasma, solids, and semiconductors, and are engaged in research in nuclear physics (Ş. Ţiţeica, H. Hulubei, I. Ursu, T. Ionescu). A gas laser was developed in 1962 under the direction of I. Agârbiceanu. A national program to introduce nuclear power into industry went into effect in 1969.

Alongside traditional biological research in botany, zoology, and hydrobiology, important work in cytophysiology, biochemistry, and genetics is being done by T. Săvulescu, E. Pop, E. Soru, V. Mîrza, E. Macovschi, R. Codreanu, E. Pora, and P. Raicu. In medical research, the emphasis is on physiology, cardiology, endocrinology, and oncology (C. Parhon, N. Hortolomeiu, A. Asian, A. Moga, Ş. Milcu, T. Burghele). In the agricultural sciences, G. Ionescu-Şişeşti, N. Giosan, V. Velican, and G. Obrejanu are noted for their research on crop cultivation, forestry, animal husbandry, and the mechanization of agriculture.

In the earth sciences, research in geomorphology, in the geology of sedimentary rocks, and in the geology of deposits of fuel and other mineral resources is being done by N. Oncescu, G. Macovei, A. Codarcea, V. Ianovici, P. S. Ştefănescu, M. Filipescu, and N. Petrulian. In physical and economic geography, special attention is given to the determination of ore and raw-material reserves (V. Mihăilescu, T. Morariu, and V. Tufescu).

Social sciences,PHILOSOPHY. The emergence of Rumanian social thought is linked with the ideology that inspired the peasant uprisings against feudal and national oppression in the 15th and 16th centuries. The progressive ideas of the popular masses, expressed in the form of religious heresies, included a belief in social equality. The first traces of a secular world outlook may be found in Neagoe Basarab’s Teachings for His Son Teodosie, an outstanding early 16th-century work in which reason is considered the basis of human behavior. The world view of the 16th- and 17th-century Rumanian humanists—Nicolaus Olahus, loan Honterus, loan Sommer, and the chroniclers Grigore Ureche, Miron Costin, and Constantin Cantacuzino—affirmed the importance of the human personality and culture and the possibility of knowing the world through reason. The most eminent adherent of Cartesianism was the Transylvanian thinker J. Apáczai Csere. Humanist tendencies were reflected in the works of D. Cantemir.

Enlightenment ideas gained a following in Rumania in the second half of the 18th and the early 19th centuries. Such Rumanian Enlightenment thinkers as S. Micu-Clain, G. Şincai, P. Maior, I. Budai-Deleanu, G. Asachi, G. Lazăr, and E. Poteca criticized feudal institutions, preached freedom and equality, supported the national liberation struggle, and promoted the spread of rationalism. T. Diamant, C. Bolliac, and J. Bolyai propounded Utopian socialist ideas.

The development of philosophy from the late 18th to the mid-19th century was shaped by the struggle for social and national liberation that culminated in the bourgeois-democratic revolutions of 1848–49. In justifying the need for social and cultural reforms, the proponents of rationalism and natural law turned to the philosophy of history and law. The leading representatives of this trend were S. Bărnuţiu, N. Bălcescu, M. Kogălniceanu, A. Treboniu Laurian, C. A. Rosetti, and G. Bariţiu. Materialist trends gained ground after the revolution. The Darwinians G. Ştefănescu, Ş. Mihâilescu, and F. Mentovich rejected spiritualism and asserted their faith in the limitless possibilities of human knowledge. V. Conta’s materialist system was of vital importance in the struggle against philosophical and religious idealism.

After the founding of the first socialist circles in the 1870’s by N. Codreanu and Dr. Russel, socialist ideas spread. The rise of the workers’ movement strengthened the influence of Marxism in the 1890’s. The leading exponents of Marxist ideas—C. Dobrogeanu-Gherea, I. Nădejde, R. Ionescu, Ş. Ştîncă, and P. Muşoiu—advocated socialism and opposed the reactionary sociological theories of Social Darwinism and Malthusianism.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the materialist scientists C. Istrati, V. Babeş, N. Leon, I. Atanasiu, I. Cantacuzino, and D. Voinov spoke out against idealism in the natural sciences. S. Haret sought to develop a “social mechanics” by applying mathematics to the study of society. C. Rădulescu-Motru, whose philosophical views were a blend of energeticism and personalism, tended toward experimental psychology in scientific research.

In the 1920’s and 1930’s such questions as the “crisis of culture” and the role of reason and scientific knowledge held a central place in several philosophical and sociological currents. I. Petrovici and L. Blaga represented the spiritualist trend in Rumanian philosophy.

N. Crainic and N. Ionescu, both of whom held fascist views, advocated irrationalism and mysticism. Headed by D. Gusti, the Bucharest sociological school, which conducted sociological research, was strongly influenced by voluntarism. The sociologist Ş. Zeletin eclectically combined reformism and liberalism. Among those who valued reason and scientific knowledge and condemned the fascist ideology were P. Negulescu, M. Florian, P. Andrei, and M. Ralea.

With the founding of the Rumanian Communist Party in the early 1920’s the Marxist-Leninist world view became increasingly influential in the workers’ movement. The Communist Party consistently opposed the fascist ideology and criticized the idealist trends in philosophy and sociology, advocating dialectical and historical materialism. V. I. Lenin’s works had a great impact on the development of Marxist philosophy.

After the overthrow of the fascist dictatorship in 1944, Marxism-Leninism gradually asserted itself as the dominant philosophy in the course of a struggle against various idealist, mystical, and nationalist tendencies. The Rumanian thinkers Florian, Ralea, D. Bădărău, and D. D. Roşca became Marxists.

Contemporary Rumanian social and philosophical thought deals chiefly with the dialectics of the development of a socialist society. Theoretical party documents and philosophical studies focus on such questions as the enhancement of the leading role of the working class party in the building of socialism, the dialectics of the general and the specific, social contradictions under socialism, the socialist state and socialist democracy, the historic role of nations in modern times, and the dialectics of socialist consciousness. Fundamental problems of dialectical materialism are being examined, including the subject matter of philosophy, the categories of dialectics, the concept of matter, the materialist conception of determinism, and the theory of reflection. Problems of ethics, aesthetics, and the philosophy of culture are studied, as well as the history of Rumanian and world philosophy. Rumanian logicians are doing important work. Other scholars are critically analyzing non-Marxist philosophy and sociology, studying various aspects of the philosophy of history, and conducting sociological research. L. Pătrăşcanu, A. Joja, M. Constantinescu, C. I. Gulian, and E. Gall are making an important contribution to the development of Rumanian philosophy and sociology.

The main philosophical and sociological centers are the Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy under the Central Committee of the Rumanian Communist Party, the Academy of Social and Political Sciences, and the philosophy subdepartments of universities and other higher educational institutions. The journals devoted to philosophy and sociology are Era socialistă (since 1972), Revistăde filozofie (since 1963), Acta logica (since 1968), Contemporanul (since 1946), Viitorul social (since 1972), and Revue roumaine des sciences sociales (série de philosophic et logique, série de sociologie), founded in 1954.

N. GOGONEAŢĂ

HISTORY. Rumanian historical writing has its origin in chronicle compilation. The 16th- and early 17th-century chronicles written by Grigore Ureche, M. Costin, I. Neculce, N. Costin, R. Greceanu, and R. Popescu, as well as several anonymous chronicles, cover the period before and after the rise of the Danubian Principalities (Moldavia and Walachia). D. Cantemir’s historical works mark the transition from chronicle writing to historical investigation. Writing as a patriot, Cantemir appealed to the Balkan peoples to ally themselves with Russia in their struggle against Ottoman oppression. The Enlightenment historians of the Transylvanian, or Ardeal, school—among them S. Micu-Clain, G. Şincai, P. Maior, and I. Budai-Deleanu—were active in the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

The further development of the study of history was influenced by the revolutions of 1848–49 in Walachia and Transylvania, the revolutionary movement in Moldavia, and the unification of the Danubian Principalities. N. Bălcescu, who wrote in the mid-19th century, was a representative of the revolutionary democratic trend. Containing elements of the materialist conception of history, his works are imbued with hatred against the feudal system and show the need to abolish it. Bălcescu also wrote several works on the history of the Danubian Principalities’ struggle against Turkish rule. He was the first to publish sources on Rumanian history. M. Kogălniceanu, a historian of the bourgeois-democratic school, was among the first to study the economic and social history of the nation, relying chiefly on the chronicles.

B. P. Haşdeu and V. A. Urechia published sources on the history of Rumania and studied the relations between the Slavs and the Moldavians and Walachians. A specialist in the study of sources, the Slavicist I. Bogdan published Slavic-language sources on the history of Moldavia and Walachia. E. Hurmuzaki published a multivolume collection of documents on the history of the Danubian Principalities contained in foreign archives. A Rumanian archaeological school was founded by V. Pârvan and G. Tocilescu. D. Onciul wrote on the history of early feudalism, and P. P. Panaitescu devoted himself to medieval Rumanian history.

A. Xenopol played an important role in the development of the study of history in Rumania. His multivolume history of the Rumanians is a well-documented synthesis of the history of the Rumanian people. Xenopol was an idealist historian who believed that social and political phenomena were engendered by the development of ideas. The bourgeois historian N. Iorga, who wrote a large number of historical works and published numerous collections of documents, brought a wealth of new documentary material to the attention of scholars. Iorga’s idealist and eclectic view of history was tinged by nationalism.

In Rumania the beginning of Marxist historiography dates from the 1920’s and 1930’s. In the 1920’s P. Constantinescu-Iaşi published several studies devoted to social and economic history and to the periodization of Rumanian history. L. Pătrăş-canu’s works showed the distinctive features of Rumania’s social, economic, and political history in the 19th and 20th centuries. M. Roller published several works on the history of the workers’ and communist movement in Rumania. However, the reactionary political regime dominant in bourgeois Rumania hampered the development of a Marxist science of history.

After the establishment of people’s rule in Rumania and during the building of socialism, the Marxist science of history was able to develop freely. Several works on the history of Rumania have been published, as well as numerous collections of documents, including a multivolume collection of documents on the history of the Rumanian Communist Party. Contemporary Rumanian historians have concentrated on the archaeology and ancient history of Rumania, social and economic processes and the national liberation movement in medieval and modern times, the history of the formation of the Rumanian state, and the history of the general democratic, labor, and peasant movements. Much attention has also been given to the people’s democratic and socialist revolutions and the social and economic transformations achieved during the building of socialism. Many monographic studies have been prepared; their authors and editors include P. Constantinescu-Iaşi, C. Daicoviciu, D. Prodan, M. Constantinescu, M. Berza, and Ş. Ştefănescu.

The main center for historical research is the History Institute of the Academy of Social and Political Sciences. Historical research is also conducted at the Institute of Historical, Social, and Political Research under the Central Committee of the Rumanian Communist Party, the Institute for the Study of Southeastern Europe of the Academy of Social and Political Sciences, and the history departments of the Universities of Bucharest and Iaşi. The Rumanian-Soviet Scientific Institute, which functioned in the 1950’s and 1960’s, made a significant contribution to the study of international relations. Historians are trained at the history departments of Bucharest, Iaşi, Cluj-Napoca, and other universities.

ECONOMICS. The most prominent economic thinkers of the first half of the 19th century were the revolutionary democrat N. Bălcescu and the Utopian socialist T. Diamant. Bălcescu urged the abolition of feudal relations in the Rumanian countryside, the distribution among peasants of land taken from landlords, and restrictions on manorial landholding. Diamant, who was strongly influenced by C. Fourier, believed that the economic problems confronting the Rumanian principalities could be solved without a revolution by organizing, with money donated by wealthy philanthropists, industrial-agrarian associations based on public ownership of the means of production.

In the second half of the 19th century, as a result of progress in the economic sciences, numerous works on economics appeared, and specialized periodicals devoted to economic problems were founded. Most of the research dealt with concrete economic problems. The economists representing the interests of the liberal bourgeoisie, among them D. Marţian (the founder of statistics in Rumania), P. Aurelian, and I. Ionescu de la Brad, advocated the development of a national industry, a protective tariff, and increased agricultural productivity through mechanization. The economists representing the interests of the commercial bourgeoisie (I. Ghica) and especially those supporting the interests of the landlords (I. Strat) advocated free trade, urged the preservation of Rumania’s agricultural economy, and defended manorial landholding. In political economy, the economists of the second half of the 19th century subscribed to the Western European vulgar political economy propounded by T. R. Malthus, F. List, and the historical school.

The growth of the proletariat that resulted from the accelerated development of capitalism in the late 19th century created a favorable climate for the dissemination of Marxist economic ideas. Several works by K. Marx and F. Engels were translated into Rumanian and published. C. Dobrogeanu-Gherea played a prominent role in the dissemination of Marxist economic views in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century Ş. Gheorghiu, I. Frimu, and A. Constantinescu helped popularize Marxist economic theory among the working class.

During the 1920’s and 1930’s the reactionary bourgeois-landlord regime in Rumania hindered the development of Marxist economics. In the theoretical analysis of economic development, Rumanian economics did not transcend the vulgar political economy of Malthusianism, neo-Malthusianism, and the new, or younger, historical school. Moreover, Rumanian economists were coming under the influence of Keynesianism and neoliberalism. Such bourgeois economists as Ş. Zeletin and V. Slăvescu offered apologias for the monopolies and the finance oligarchy and urged the bourgeois state to take a more active part in regulating economic development. Other economists, notably V. Madgearu and C. Garoflid, continued to insist that the Rumanian economy remain agrarian. In the late 1930’s, when Rumania became a satellite of fascist Germany and its domestic politics became increasingly fascist, the fascist economic theories of the totalitarian economy and the corporative state became popular. The leading exponents of these theories were M. Manoilescu and A. Cuza.

The establishment of the people’s democratic system and the shift to the building of socialism stimulated the development of Marxist economics. Urgent problems of socialist construction and the building of a developed socialist society are the theme of N. Ceauşescu’s works. A. Bîrlădeanu, N. Constantinescu, I. Rachmuth, and A. Negucioiu are studying the political economy of socialism and capitalism. M. Mănescu and R. Moldovan are doing research in statistics and the application of mathematical methods to economics. R. Constantinescu and G. Rădulescu have written on the international socialist division of labor and the economic relations between the socialist countries and the capitalist and developing nations. G. Zane, V. Axenciuc, N. Ivanciu, and G. Dobre are noted for their work on the history of Rumania’s national economy and the history of economic thought. Other research fields include the economics of agriculture (V. Malinschi) and the economics of industry (E. Dobrescu, I. Zahiu, G. Apostol).

Economic research is conducted at the Central Institute of Economic Research under the Supreme Council of Social and Economic Development of the Socialist Republic of Rumania, the Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy, research institutes attached to various government departments, and higher educational institutions. Economists are trained at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest (founded in 1913) and at the economics departments of the Universities of Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, Craiova, and Iaşi.

JURISPRUDENCE. Rumanian legal scholars are working on problems of the theory of state and law, constitutional law, administrative law, civil law and procedure, comparative economic law, labor law and social security, criminal law and procedure, and international public and private law. They are also studying legal problems pertaining to the development of national relations and to the ideological struggle. O. Trăsnea, I. Ceterchi, A. Naschitz, and I. Vîntu are known for their work on the general theory of state and law and in political science. L. Lörincz has critically analyzed the bourgeois state system. T. Drăganu has made an important contribution to constitutional law and A. Ionaşcu and E. Barasch to civil law. In the 1970’s much attention has been given to the role and function of law, including its role in the formation, protection, and development of the individual. The status of public organizations in Rumania’s political system is being studied.

Most of the theoretical work on problems of state and law is done by the Academy of Social and Political Sciences, which has a section on the legal sciences. The foremost institution for the study of state and law is the Institute of Juridical Research in Bucharest, which has branches in Iaşi and Cluj-Napoca. Legal problems are also studied at the Institute of Political Science and National Problems, by the Legislative Council under the State Council, by the Ministry of Justice, and by the Procurator’s Office. Legal specialists are trained at the law departments of the universities of Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, and Iaşi and at the law subdepartments of the University of Timişoara and the Academy of Economic Studies.

LINGUISTICS. The scientific study of the Rumanian language was initiated by the Transylvanian, or Ardeal, school, which flourished from the mid-18th to the early 19th century. S. Micu-Clain, G. Şincai, P. Maior, I. Budai-Deleanu, and P. Iorgovici created the first normative grammar, compiled dictionaries of the Rumanian language, developed an orthography based on the Latin alphabet, and showed that Rumanian is derived from Latin. Rumanian linguistics became rigorously scientific in the second half of the 19th century, when important work was done in comparative philology, notably Romance philology. B. P. Haşdeu began compiling an etymological dictionary of Rumanian (Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae), the first four volumes of which appeared between 1886 and 1898. He also studied the Thraco-Dacian substratum and the Slavic and Germanic elements in Rumanian.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries much attention was given to the history and description of the Rumanian language. Works on phonetics, grammar, etymology, semasiology, dialectology, and lexicography were written by A. Lambrior, H. Tiktin, A. Philippide, L. Şăineanu, O. Densusianu, I. A. Candrea, and S. Puşcariu. Among eminent 20th-century specialists in Rumanian philology are A. Graur, A. Rosetti, I. Iordan, and D. Macrea. In the 1950’s and 1960’s the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Rumania published several collaborative works: the Dictionary of Literary Rumanian (Dictionarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 1955–57), the Rumanian Grammar (Gramatica limbii române, 1966), and dialectology maps.

Since the early 20th century studies comparing Rumanian with other closely related Balkan Romance languages have appeared. Among the most important are the works on Istro-Ru-manian by S. Puşcariu and on Megleno-Rumanian and Aromani by T. Capidan and T. Papahagi. Other research fields include general Romance philology (I. Iordan, I. Bacinschi), Balkan linguistics (C. Poghirc), the linguistic ties between Rumanian and Albanian (G. Brîncuş), the Slavic languages of the Balkans (E. Petrovici), Slavic linguistics (I. Bărbulescu, G. Mihăilă), the language of the Thracians and Dacians (I. Russu), and dialectology (I. Coteanu). A. Graur, H. Mihăescu, and S. Stati have made a valuable contribution to the study of Latin. During the 1950’s and 1960’s important work was done in general linguistics, mathematical linguistics (the mathematician S. Marcus and the linguist E. Vasiliu), and linguistic semiotics (T. Cazacu).

The main linguistic centers are the Universities of Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, and Iaşi, the Linguistic Institute of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Rumania in Bucharest (founded in 1949), and the Iaşi branch of the Academy. The main linguistic journals are Studii şi cercetări lingvistice (since 1950), Limba română (since 1952), Revue roumaine de linguistique (since 1956), and Cahiers de linguistique théorique et appliquée (1962–74).

A. B. DOLGOPOL’SKII

Scientific institutions. The National Council for Science and Technology, called the National Council for Scientific Research until 1971, has supervised the organization, planning, and financing of research since 1965. The country’s leading research institutions are the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Rumania, the Academy of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Academy of Social and Political Sciences. The Academy of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, founded in 1969, has six sections: crop cultivation; fruit growing; zootechnics and veterinary science; forestry; soil science, land reclamation, water resources, and mechanization; and the economics of agriculture. The Academy of Medical Sciences, established in 1969, has sections of biology, clinical medicine, preventive medicine, and pharmacology. The Academy of Social and Political Sciences (1970) has eight sections: economics, philosophy and logic, history and archaeology, jurisprudence, political science, psychology and pedagogy, sociology, and the theory and history of art and literature. Research is also conducted at more than 300 research and design institutes and centers and at specialized research institutions attached to higher schools. In 1972, some 40,800 persons were engaged in scientific research. About 7 billion lei were allocated for research between 1971 and 1975. Rumania participates in the work of the scientific organizations of the COMECON countries and in the scientific research of other international organizations.

In 1977 more than 480 newspapers and magazines, with a total circulation of 10 million, were published in Rumania. The leading dailies are Scînteia (since 1931, circulation 1.5 million), the organ of the Central Committee of the Rumanian Communist Party; Scînteia tineretului (since 1944, circulation 800,000), the organ of the Central Committee of the Union of Communist Youth; Romania libera (since 1943, circulation 300,000), the organ of the National Council of the Socialist Unity Front; and Informaţia Bucureştiului (since 1953, circulation 860,000), an evening paper and the organ of the Bucharest Municipal Committee of the Rumanian Communist Party and of the People’s Council of the Bucharest Municipality.

The major weeklies are Apărarea patriei (since 1945, circulation 60,000), the central organ of the Ministry of Defense; Contemporanul (since 1946, circulation 72,600), the organ of the Council on Culture and Socialist Education; Lumea (since 1963, circulation 65,000), the organ of the Journalists’ Union; and Munca (since 1944, circulation 143,000), the organ of the General Union of Trade Unions.

The principal magazines are Munca de partid (since 1956, circulation 180,000), the organ of the Central Committee of the Rumanian Communist Party; Eră socialistă (since September 1972, circulation 200,000–250,000), the semimonthly theoretical and sociopolitical magazine of the Central Committee of the Rumanian Communist Party (replacing Lupta de clasă, founded in 1920); Romania literară (since 1954, circulation 30,000), a literary journal and the organ of the Writers’ Union (called Gazeta literară until October 1968); and Femeia (since 1948, circulation 350,000), the organ of the National Women’s Council. All the above newspapers and magazines are published in Bucharest.

The most important newspapers and magazines published outside the capital are Tribuna (since 1884), a sociopolitical and literary weekly published in Cluj-Napoca; Cronica (since 1966), a sociopolitical weekly published in Iaşi; Vatra (since 1894), a literary monthly published in Tîrgu-Mureş; and Transilvania (since 1868), a literary monthly published in Sibiu.

Founded in 1949, Agerpres, the Rumanian news agency, is based in Bucharest. Radio broadcasting was initiated in 1925 and television broadcasting in 1953. Radio broadcasts in 15 foreign languages are transmitted abroad. There are 24 television stations. Radio and television broadcasting is supervised by the National Council of Rumanian Radio and Television, a government organization.

I. N. LOBASHEVA

For a long time the national literature consisted of ceremonial and ritual songs, doina songs, haiduk songs, ballads, songs accompanying dances, fairy tales, stories of daily life, animal tales, popular anecdotes, proverbs, and sayings—all of which helped perfect the national language. The Rumanian language also developed under the influence of the Slavs, from whom the Rumanians took the Orthodox religion. The Cyrillic alphabet was introduced along with Old Church Slavonic, the language of the official church. The oldest surviving example of writing is a letter written in 1521 by the boyar Neacşu of Cîmpulung.

The first secular work, the didactic treatise Neagoe Basarab’s Teachings for His Son Teodosie, appeared in the early 16th century. The first Rumanian translations of religious texts date from the same century. Such works as the Şcheia Psalter, Voroneţ Psalter, and Palia From Orăştie (1582) owed their appearance to the translation and printing activity of Deacon Coresi, the Moldavian metropolitans Varlaam (c. 1590–1657) and Dosoftei (1624–93), and the boyar Udrişte Năsturel (c. 1596–1657). The chronicles of the Moldavians Grigore Ureche (1590–1647), Miron Costîn (1633–91), Ion Neculce (1672–1745), and Constantin Cantacuzino (c. 1650–1716) influenced the development of the language and, later, of Rumanian literature, both as a source of subjects and as stylistic models. The Moldavian hospodar D. Cantemir (Kantemir, 1673–1723) was the foremost representative of humanism, and Enlightenment ideas were disseminated by the Transylvanian, or Ardeal, school, whose members included S. Micu-Clain (1745–1806), G. Şincai, (1754–1816), and P. Maior (c. 1761–1821).

Imaginative literature arose in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The rhymed chronicles and lyric poems of Ş. loan, I. Copilul, and M. Millo prepared the way for the poetry of Ienăchiţă Văcărescu, Alecu Văcărescu, Nicolae Văcărescu, and C. Conachi (1778–1820). The Transylvanian poet I. Budai-Deleanu (c. 1760–1820) is best known for his satirical epic Ţîganiada (The Gypsy Camp), first published in 1875–76.

The growth of the anti-Turkish national liberation movement in the first half of the 19th century strengthened the desire for national unity and liberation, which became the main demands of the revolutions of 1848–49. All these developments contributed to the spread of enlightenment and to the rise of romantic literature. The romantics of the period of national renaissance sought to express progressive social ideas and to become involved in public affairs. School textbooks were written, and the first newspapers were founded by I. Eliade Rădulescu, (1807–72) in Walachia, G. Asachi (1788–1869) in Moldavia, and G. Bariţiu (1812–93) in Transylvania. Literary societies were organized, and a national theater was founded. Literature entered a phase of rapid development. The romantic literature of the period of national awakening before and after the revolutions—love lyrics, satirical and political fables, ballads, short stories, and comedies of manners—often preserved the genres developed by the European, particularly French, classical and Enlightenment writers.

The leading romantic writers of the 1830’s and 1840’s were V. Cîrlova (1809–31), G. Alexandrescu (1810–85), D. Bolintineanu (1819–72), V. Alecsandri (1821–90), C. Negruzzi (1808–68), and A. Russo (1819–59). Like all the European writers of this school, the Rumanian romantics were deeply interested in folklore and national history. A. Pann (1796 or 1797 to 1854) published the Collection of Proverbs, or the Story Behind the Sayings in 1847; V. Alecsandri published the first collection of folk songs in 1852; and M. Kogălniceanu (1817–91) collected and published chronicles. After 1848, Rumanian romanticism, which had been inspired by idealistic notions of freedom and equality, turned from an affirmation to a sharp critique of the bourgeois system. This shift was reflected in Alecsandri’s later works, notably his fairy play Sanziana and Pepelea (1883), and in the poetry and publicistic writings of M. Eminescu (1850–89), who wrote Emperor and Proletarian, Life, Our Youth, and the cycle Epistles (1881).

The proclamation of a unified national state in 1862 and the country’s liberation from Turkish rule in 1878 focused public attention on the peasantry and the “imperfections” of the bourgeois system. The social awareness promoted the development of realism, which had been introduced by N. Filimon (1819–65) as early as the 1850’s. The most important realist writers of the 1870’s and 1880’s were I. L. Caragiale (1852–1912), I. Creangă (1837–89), G. Coşbuc (1866–1918), I. Slavici (1848–1925), and B. Delavrancea (1858–1918). M. Sadoveanu (1880–1961) and I. Agârbiceanu (1880–1963) began their careers as realist writers.

The intensification of social conflicts in the last quarter of the 19th century engendered two distinct trends in literary criticism. T. Maiorescu (1840–1917) defended the conservative position, and C. Dobrogeanu-Gherea (1855–1920), writing for the magazine Contemporanul (The Contemporary), advocated tendentious art. The revival of romanticism, with socialist overtones, by C. Mille (1861–1927) and D. T. Neculuţă (1859–1904) could not be sustained in an agrarian country such as Rumania, and it did not last beyond the early 20th century. The attitude toward the peasantry crystallized into three successive tendencies. Poporanism (populism), which appeared at the turn of the 20th century and was associated with the magazine Viaţa românească (Rumanian Life), called for moral responsibility to the peasantry and demanded that writers truthfully depict the hard lot of the peasants. Poporanism was followed by semănătorism, which regarded the peasantry as the only “positive class.” This trend took its name from the magazine Semănătorul (The Sower). In the 1920’s and 1930’s găndirism, associated with the magazine Gândirea (Thought), used the peasant outlook on life as a springboard for preaching mysticism and nationalism. These currents, however, did not shake the humanist foundations of realist literature or affect its critical view of bourgeois-landlord society.

After World War I social criticism became more pronounced in the novels and short stories of M. Sadoveanu, among whose best-known works are the novel Lăpuşneanu Street (1921), the short-story collection At Ancuţa’s Inn (1928) and the novel The Hatchet (1930); L. Rebreanu (1885–1944), the author of the novels Ion (1920), The Forest of the Hanged (1922), and The Uprising (1932); Camil Petrescu (1894–1957), who wrote the novels The Last Night of Love, the First Night of War (1930) and Procrustean Bed (1935); and Cezar Petrescu (1892–1961), noted for his novels The Blackout (1927) and Victory Road (1931). Among other important novels of social protest were Bach Concert (1927) by Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu (1876–1955) and Otilia’s Enigma (1938) by G. Călinescu (1899–1965). Rumania’s symbolists and expressionists, most of them poets, also opposed the bourgeois-landlord social system. Their works were marked by antimonarchism (A. Macedonski, 1854–1920), a strong sympathy for the working class (G. Bacovia, 1881–1957), pantheism (L. Blaga, 1895–1961), and a quest for an ethical ideal (T. Arghezi, 1880–1967).

The 1930’s saw the birth of a proletarian literature. Its leading exponents were A. Sahia (1908–37), who wrote The USSR Today (1935), and G. Bogza (born 1908), the author of The Tragedy of the Basque People (1937). Proletarian ideals also infused the “left-wing” poetry of M. Beniuc (born 1907), E. Jebeleanu (born 1911), and M. R. Paraschivescu (1911–71). The antibourgeois attitude of the Rumanian writers, reinforced by antifascist and antiwar sentiments, made it easier for them to accept socialist realism.

After the country’s liberation from fascism in 1944, the new ideas and the new life that emerged found expression in several works by older writers—M. Sadoveanu’s novella Mitrea Cocor (1949) and his novel NicoarăPotcoav ă (1952), Camil Petrescu’s novel A Man Among Men (vols. 1–3, 1953–57), and Cezar Petrescu’s novel Men of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (1955). These themes were also taken up by a number of poets and prose writers who began their careers in the 1920’s and 1930’s, notably Beniuc, Z. Stancu (1902–74), Jebeleanu, Paraschivescu, and V. Teodorescu (born 1909). Among the novelists, poets, and playwrights whose art evolved under the influence of the building of a socialist society are E. Camilar (born 1910), T. Popovici (born 1930), M. Preda (born 1922), E. Barbu (born 1924), L. Fulga (born 1916), Maria Banuş, (born 1914), M. Dragomir (1919–64), R. Boureanu (born 1906), M. Davidoglu (born 1910), Lucia Demetrius (born 1910), A. Baranga (born 1913), and H. Lovinescu (born 1917). The Writers’ Union, founded in 1949, was given the task of rallying the country’s creative forces around a Marxist ideological and aesthetic platform.

A new generation of writers appeared on the literary scene in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, among them the prose writers D. R. Popescu (born 1935), F. Neagu (born 1932), and N. Velea (born 1936) and the poets N. Stănescu (born 1933), M. Sorescu (born 1936), and Ana Blandiana (born 1942). Since the mid-1960’s Rumanian writers have shown a deep concern with moral and ethical problems and a predilection for psychological analysis by revealing the individual’s attitude toward the world, employing artistic symbolism and mythology, and experimenting with lyrical prose. This tendency is expressed in varying degrees in the writings of Ş. Bănulescu (born 1929), F. Neagu, A. Ivasiuc, M. Preda, Z. Stancu, N. Stănescu, C. Baltag, I. Caraion, and V. Teodorescu. A literature in Hungarian and German also exists. The main literary magazines are Romania literară and Viaţa românească.

Literary theory and criticism. M. Kogălniceanu’s article “The Rumanian or Walachian Language and Literature,” published in 1837, initiated literary scholarship in Rumania. The leading exponent of “art for art’s sake” was T. Maiorescu. Polemicizing against Maiorescu in the 1880’s, C. Dobrogeanu-Gherea propounded an aesthetics that combined H. Taine’s determinism with the Russian revolutionary democrat’s views on the social value of art. Subsequently, the aesthetics of realism was defended by G. Ibrăileanu (1871–1936), best known for his Critical Spirit in Rumanian Culture (1909), and by N. Iorga (1871–1940), who wrote on the history of Rumanian literature. Iorga’s view of literature as an important element in national unity became the ideological basis of semănătorism. Iorga was opposed by E. Lovinescu (1881–1943), an adherent of Maiores-cu’s aestheticism and G. Tarde’s theory of imitation who urged Rumanian writers to learn from foreign literature. In his History of Rumanian Literature From Its Origins to the Present (1941), G. Călinescu regarded literary history as an interaction between the development of genres and the individual destiny of writers. T. Vianu (1897–1964) and M. Ralea (1896–1964) wrote on the theory of literature, aesthetics, stylistics, and the philosophy of art.

Marxist literary scholarship arose in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Today, Rumanian literary critics are reexamining the literary heritage and analyzing contemporary literature from the Marxist point of view. Important work is being done by Ş. Cioculescu (born 1902), A. Piru (born 1917), O. Crohmălniceanu (born 1922), I. Ianoşi (born 1928), P. Cornea (born 1924), and D. Micu (born 1928).

The Neolithic tribes of Rumania produced highly expressive clay statuettes, such as the Thinker of Cernavodă (Hamangia culture, third millennium B.C.), and pottery with rich incised, modeled, or painted designs. The Neolithic ceramics of the Boian, Cucuteni, and other cultures resemble the pottery of the Aegean world and Central and Eastern Europe. Thracian, Scythian, and Celtic artworks have survived, as well as the remains of the Greek Black Sea coast cities of Callatis (modern Mangalia), Histria, and Tomis (Constanţa). There are ruins of Dacian fortresses in the mountains of Transylvania, at Grădiştea Muncelului and elsewhere. Among the many examples of Greco-Roman and Roman sculpture that have survived is the famous Tropaeum Trajani at Adamclisi. The art of the period of great migrations is represented by gold and silver objects made by the Goths (treasure of gold plate and jewelry from Pietroasa, fourth century A.D.) and by the Slavs who settled here in the sixth and seventh centuries (Voineşti treasure, late 12th and early 13th centuries).

The medieval art of Transylvania, which became part of the Kingdom of Hungary in the 12th century, developed under the influence of the art of the Catholic Central European countries. Romanesque churches such as the three-aisled basilicas in Cisnădiora (before 1223) and in Alba Iulia (1250–90) gave way to Gothic hall churches with massive walls, a large tower at the western facade, and a minimum of carved ornamentation. The most famous Gothic churches are St. Michael’s Church in Cluj-Napoca and the Black Church in Braşov, both built in the 14th and 15th centuries. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, a period of intensive urban construction, stone and brick town houses were built, and Sibiu, Sighişoara, and Braşov were surrounded by fortifications with huge towers and gates. The castles built at Bran (1377) and Hunedoara (completed in the 15th century) have an irregular layout, with halls arranged in several tiers around an unsymmetrical courtyard, round or square towers, and bay windows.

In the early 16th century Renaissance features appeared in Rumanian architecture. Urban houses were embellished with elements from the classical orders, and the chapels added to Gothic cathedrals were lavishly decorated with Renaissance sculpture (Lazo Chapel in the Alba Iulia Cathedral, completed in 1512). Castles were also rebuilt in the Renaissance style, acquiring arcaded inner courtyards and loggias. Noteworthy examples include the castles of Criş (c. 1559–1698) and Făgăraş. (16th and 17th centuries). Nevertheless, the Renaissance style never developed into a full-blown artistic system. Introduced in the early 18th century, the baroque style spread rapidly. In Rumania, the baroque was characterized by restraint of form and decoration, as exemplified by the churches at Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, and Oradea and the Brukenthal Palace in Sibiu. The rural churches built between the 14th and 18th centuries often incorporated Moldavian and Walachian architectural features. In the 19th century construction declined in Transylvania.

The medieval visual art of Transylvania was influenced by both European Gothic and late Byzantine art. The wall paintings of the 14th and 15 th centuries were often marked by a somewhat crude expressiveness and an attempt at characterization. Easel painting, introduced in the 15th century, was influenced by Central European art. Funerary sculpture came into vogue in the 17th century; tomb slabs were decorated with simplified portraits in relief executed in the Renaissance style. Baroque wall painting and altar sculpture appeared in the 18th century. In decorative applied art, artistic metalworking flourished between the 14th and 18th centuries.

Medieval Walachian and Moldavian architecture developed under the influence of the neighboring Orthodox countries—Byzantium, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Besides cruciform domed churches, such as St. Nicholas’ Church in Curtea de Argeş (1352), single-asled triconch churches with a narthex and one or more domes were built. A remarkable example of the latter style is the church of the Cozia Monastery, dating from the late 14th century. The decoration of Moldavian buildings combined such Gothic elements as lancet windows and portals with enameled ceramic inlays on the upper parts of walls and on the drums of domes (the church of the Neamţ Monastery, 1497). In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, subdome vaults in the form of steplike arches on consoles were introduced in Moldavian churches. Such vaults were used in conjunction with high stelliform dome drums. The fortresses built in the 14th and 15th centuries were rectangular in plan, with halls along the perimeter, and had towers and bastions (Neamţ, Suceava).

Moldavian and Walachian church architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries shows a predilection for ornate decoration. The early 16th-century churches of Walachia, made of dressed stone and marble, were completely covered with carvings in low relief (arcatures, panels, and rosettes), usually divided into two tiers. The most famous of these churches are the church of the monastery in Dealu (1500–02) and the Episcopal Church in Curtea de Argeş (1512–17).

The incessant wars with Turkey devastated the principalities. Despite the Turkish domination, lasting from the 16th to the 19th centuries, national cultural traditions were carefully preserved. The more modest brick buildings erected in Walachia in the 16th and 17th centuries repeated, in simplified forms, the decorative scheme of the churches of the early 16th century. Especially noteworthy are the Mihai Vodă Church (1589–91) and the Patriarchal Church (1654–58), both in Bucharest. The structurally traditional churches of the 16th and 17th centuries often had an open narthex with arches or low arcades. The small rural churches of Moldavia had high overhanging roofs, and their exterior walls were completely covered with picturesque thematic paintings creating elegant “rug” compositions. The churches of the Humor Monastery (1530), the Moldoviţa Monastery (1532), and the village of Voroneţ (mid-16th century) are notable examples.

Walachian architecture of the late 17th and 18th centuries was dominated by the Brîncoveanu style, in which folk and medieval national architectural styles were combined with such Renaissance and baroque features as loggias, twisted columns, and capitals lavishly decorated with floral carving. The finest examples of the Brîncoveanu style are the Mogoşoaia Palace near Bucharest (1700–02) and the Stavropoleos Church in Bucharest (1724–30). The Moldavian buildings of this period, traditional in composition, were often covered with low-relief carvings that fancifully blended European, Oriental, and national ornamental motifs (the Church of the Three Saints in Iaşi, 1639). The church of the Golia Monastery (1660) exemplifies the use of baroque elements in the 17th century. St. George’s Church at the Neamţ Monastery (1795) incorporates classical features, introduced into Rumanian architecture in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. With their winding streets and private estates, the Moldavian and Walachian towns that sprang up around princely residences resembled rural settlements down to the 19th century. Fortified houses with massive walls and embrasure-like windows (cula) were built throughout Walachia.

Medieval Walachian and Moldavian painting was derived from late Byzantine art. Flowing contours, a tranquil tone, soft colors, and an attempt to individualize faces characterize Gavril Uric’s miniatures illustrating the Scriptures (1429) and the paintings in St. Nicholas’ Church in Curtea de Argeş (second half of the 14th century) and the church in Pătrăuţi (1487). In 16th-century painting, still essentially medieval, secular elements became more pronounced and a tendency toward ostentation and ornamentation appeared, especially in the portraits of donors (Episcopal Church in Curtea de Argeş, c. 1526). The paintings on the exterior walls of Moldavian churches reflect an attempt to introduce contemporary life into art, for example, Turks are depicted among the sinners in scenes from the Last Judgment. Walachian paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries had a naively lifelike quality and incorporated picturesque folklore motifs. These traits are especially evident in the paintings of the church at Filipeşti de Pădure (1692), executed by Pîrvu Mutu. Landscape and architectural backgrounds with elements of spatial perspective appeared in wall paintings (Hurez Monastery, 1694–1704).

In Moldavian and Walachian iconography, which developed from the late 15th century, severe generalized imagery gave way in the 17th century to a predilection for lavish ornamentation. Sculpture in the round never developed in medieval Moldavia and Walachia. Ornamental carving in stone and wood flourished, however, and rich floral and geometric carvings adorned wooden gates, thrones and altars of churches, stone tombstones, and architectural details. Artistic silver and gold embroidery and metalwork reached a high level between the 14th and 18th centuries. Portraits or multifigured compositions were often embroidered on vestments and other church articles.

With the growth of the national liberation movement, secular art began to develop in all parts of Rumania at the turn of the 19th century. Portraiture was represented by the static and naively expressive paintings of N. Polcovnicul and I. Balomir. In the middle of the 19th century Rumanian art responded to the revolutionary movement. Both romantic and realist trends emerged, as may be seen from I. Negulici’s and B. Iscovescu’s portraits and landscapes and C. D. Rosenthal’s patriotic allegories. The unification of Moldavia and Walachia in 1859 and the proclamation of the independence of the Rumanian state in 1877 contributed to an upswing in artistic culture. Romantic, academic, and realist traits were mingled in T. Aman’s historical paintings and idyllic scenes from peasant life.

Democratic realism was the leading trend from around 1870 to 1900. Subtle color gradations and a fresh approach to landscapes and depictions of the common people distinguish the paintings of N. Grigorescu and I. Andreescu, who were influenced by the Barbizon school. Social criticism is implicit in O. Băncilă’s and J. A. Steriadi’s scenes from the life of the Rumanian proletariat and I. Iser’s political caricatures.

Searching for new expressive possibilities and color harmonies, Rumanian painters of the first third of the 20th century adopted some of the techniques of fauvism, cubism, and expressionism. Their work also reflects a strong interest in the material world and democratic national ideals. Portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and historical and genre paintings were produced by Ş. Luchian, G. Petraşcu, T. Pallady, C. Ressu, Ş. Dimitrescu, N. Tonitza, F. Şirato, and D. Ghiaţă. In the 1930’s and early 1940’s, when the political system was becoming fascist, a progressive antifascist movement arose in Rumanian art. Political subjects predominated in the graphic arts. N. Tonitza and A. Jiquidi were famous for their expose drawings and caricatures, which appeared in newspapers and magazines.

In the late 19th and first third of the 20th centuries, academism in sculpture was superseded by romanticism (Ş. Ionescu-Valbudea), art nouveau (D. Paciurea), and neoclassicism (I. Jalea, O. Han, C. Medrea). C. Bră âncuşi’s penchant for symbolism and his efforts to enhance the expressive possibilities of his materials sometimes led him to abstract forms. Several of his works are modern adaptations of Rumanian folk art.

Several classical buildings were erected in the early 19th century. After 1850 industrial development and the growth of cities stimulated the construction of imposing public buildings in the European eclectic style, often designed by foreign architects. The finest examples of this style are the Athenaeum and Palace of Justice in Bucharest. In the 1880’s the architect I. Mincu turned to folk architecture and Brîncoveanu style, which inspired the design of the Bufet restaurant in Bucharest. In the 1930’s neoclassicism, best represented by the Republic Palace in Bucharest, was replaced by functionalism, introduced by the architects H. Creangă and D. Marcu, who worked in Braşov and Bucharest.

After the establishment of people’s democratic rule industrial techniques came into use. New cities such as Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Victoria were built, and old cities were modernized. Resort complexes equipped with all modern conveniences were built on the Black Sea coast, among them Mamaia, Eforie, and Mangalia. The new districts have a flexible spatial organization and an interesting combination of horizontal and vertical volumes. Other architectural features include variety in the arrangement of loggias and of sun-protective and ventilation devices and a decorative use of colors and textured panels. Among such new districts are Floreasca and Titan in Bucharest, Ţiglina in Galaţi, and Steagul Roşu in Braşov.

Prefabricated structural components of various configurations are used in industrial and public buildings. Examples include Congress Hall of the Republic Palace and the circus in Bucharest and railroad stations in Braşov and Constanţa. Old city centers are being reconstructed (Union Square in Iaşi), and architectural works of historical significance are being creatively integrated into the new ensembles (Republic Square in Bucharest). The architecture of the late 1960’s is marked by a striving for plastic expressiveness and a spatial play of volumes. These tendencies are discernible in the Summer Theater at Mamaia and the ensemble of the I. L. Caragiale National Theater in Bucharest.

Many artists of the older generation, including C. Ressu, I. Iser, N. Tonitza, F. Şirato, D. Ghiaţă, A. Jiquidi, I. Jalea, O. Han, and C. Medrea, have helped shape the art of socialist Rumania. Industrial landscapes and paintings depicting people at work and the history of the revolutionary struggle predominated in the 1950’s in the paintings of M. Bunescu, H. Catargi, S. Szönyi, and M. H. Maxy. An affirmation of life and delicate colors distinguish the landscapes, still lifes, and historical compositions of A. Ciucurencu. Psychological depth, a democratic outlook, and dramatic color combinations are typical of C. Baba’s scenes from peasant life and his portraits.

Around 1955 painters began to show a greater interest in decorative stylization. The portraits, genre scenes, and depictions of peasants by C. Piliuţă and B. Covaliu are remarkable for their refined linear rhythms, texture, and color combinations. The works of W. Sachelarie-Vladimirescu and I. Ţuculescu are marked by formal and plastic experimentation with texture and color. In the 1960’s I. Gheorghiu and V. Almăşanu painted expressive abstract compositions, and surrealistic elements appeared in S. Bălaşa’s canvases. Since the late 1960’s painters have evinced a renewed interest in the material world and have been striving for national distinctiveness. These trends are reflected in the works of G. Şaru, C. Dipşe, V. Mărgineanu, I. Sălişteanu, M. Rusu, and I. Musceleanu.

Among the best sculptural works in socialist Rumania are the portrait statues and busts of I. Jalea, O. Han, G. Anghel, R. Ladea, and B. Caragea; the sculpture and monuments of C. Medrea, G. Vida, and I. Oniţă; and the symbolist works of I. Irimescu and Z. Băicoianu. S. Radu, G. Iliescu, and I. Vlasiu derive their inspiration from medieval sculpture and folk wood carving. Various kinds of graphic art, including illustrations and posters, have reached a high level of development. Among the most important graphic artists are V. Dobrian, V. Kazar, P. Erdös, F. Cordescu, L. Macovei, C. Damadian, M. Chirnoagă, V. Munteanu, and I. Molnar. In decorative applied art, efforts to develop modern forms and to enhance the expressive possibilities of materials are combined with the use of folk art. Especially noteworthy are the ceramics of P. Mateescu, the glass objects of Z. Băicoianu, and the artistic fabrics designed by A. Ghiaţă, M. Podeanu, and G. Stoichiţă.

Rumanian musical culture originated in the country’s folk music, with its distinctive modal-melodic structure and rhythms. Rumanian folk music is based on several different scales, from simple scales of three, four, or five notes to complex multistep systems. The songs are monophonic, although hete-rophonic elements are also encountered. Rumanian folk music includes ritual, lullaby, pastoral, humorous, and lyric songs, as well as ballads and funeral laments. One of the most complex and distinctive genres is the lyric doina. Also important are songs of social protest, ranging from haiduk and farmhand songs to proletarian songs, and antifascist songs. There are many instrumental folk tunes, often largely improvised, with rich ornamentation and intricate rhythms.

Of the many folk dances, mostly group dances, the most popular are the hora, sîrba, brîu, învîrtita, and haţegana. Festivals with songs and dances, called joc, have been held since time immemorial. The folk wind instruments are the fluer (reed pipe), nai (a kind of panpipe), cimpoi (bagpipes), and bucium (horn). The traditional stringed instruments are the kobza, cymbals, zither, and fiddle; the cello and double bass were introduced later. Professional folk musicians, called lăutari, performing for the most part in ensembles (tarafe), played a vital role in the development and spread of Rumanian folk music.

The centuries of Turkish domination hindered the development of professional secular music in Rumania. Until 1800 musical life was largely confined to the princely courts and monasteries. In the mid-19th century a Rumanian school of composers arose. The first professional composers, I. A. Wachmann and A. Flechtenmacher, wrote chiefly choral and solo songs, vaudevilles, and operettas. Rumanian professional music matured rapidly after the political unification of Moldavia and Walachia in 1862. The leading composers of the latter half of the 19th century were E. Caudella, who wrote popular vaudevilles and the first romantic national opera, Petru Rareş (1889); C. Porumbescu, best known for his patriotic songs; G. Stephănescu, who wrote the first Rumanian symphony and instrumental chamber works; and C. Dimitrescu, who produced the first Rumanian string quartets. The well-known composer and musical figure G. Musicescu made a major contribution to the development of professional choral music, as did D. Kiriac-Georgescu, G. Dima, I. Mureşianu, and later I. Vidu and G. Cucu.

After 1830 national performing groups were formed, and music schools were established. Philharmonic societies were founded in Bucharest in 1833 and in Iaşi in 1836, paving the way for the opening of conservatories in both cities in 1864. Rumanian singing and dramatic societies were organized in Transylvania in 1847. A permanent symphony orchestra was founded in Bucharest in 1866 and a philharmonic society in 1868. From the 1830’s various Rumanian companies staged operas sung in Rumanian. From 1852 operas were performed at the Great Theater, called the National Theater from 1877. G. Stephănescu formed the first permanent opera company in 1885. The most famous singers of the second half of the 19th century were E. Teodorini, H. Darclée, G. Dimitrescu, and D. Popovici-Bayreuth. This period also produced the first Rumanian conductors, E. Wachmann and E. Caudella. Choral singing reached a high level in the performances of the Iaşi metropolitan’s choir under the direction of Musicescu and the Banat and Transylvania choirs, directed by Dima. Kiriac-Georgescu founded the Carmen Choral Society in 1901.

The Rumanian school of composers became firmly established in the 20th century. It was headed by G. Enescu, whose symphonies, chamber music, and opera Oedipus (1931) have become national classics. Prominent musicians of the first half of the 20th century include the composers M. Andricu and D. Cuclin, known for their symphonies and chamber music, and M. Jora, one of the founders of the modern Rumanian ballet. Among the highest achievements of this period are S. Drăgoi’s opera Calamity (1927) and P. Constantinescu’s opera The Stormy Night (1934). The Rumanian Composers’ Society was founded in Bucharest in 1920.

The musical theater become increasingly popular, and concert life flourished. Among famous performing artists were the singers P. Ştefănescu-Goangă, F. Cristoforeanu, and T. Grozăvescu; the conductors A. Alessandrescu, G. Georgescu, and A. Ciolan; the violinist and conductor G. Enescu; the pianist D. Lipatti; and the cellists D. Dinicu and C. Dimitrescu. An opera theater was founded in Bucharest in 1919, becoming a state theater in 1921, and Cluj-Napoca acquired an opera theater in 1920 and a conservatory in 1921. Musicology and folk music studies, begun by N. Filimon, T. Burada, and A. Pann in the mid-19th century, were developed by the music historian G. Breazul and the folklore students C. Brăiloiu, S. Drăgoi, and T. Brediceanu.

The liberation of the country from fascism and the proclamation of the Rumanian republic in 1947 promoted a flowering of musical culture. Mass songs were written by I. Chirescu, V. Popovici, M. Vescan, M. Socor, G. Dumitrescu, and D. Popovici. Heroic, historical, and revolutionary themes found expression in oratorios and cantatas, notably A. Vieru’s Hie Pantilie’s Blackbird (1949), G. Dumitrescu’s Tudor Vladimirescu (1950), and T. Olah’s Man’s Constellation (1960), based on Mayakovsky’s work. These themes are also reflected in G. Dumitrescu’s folk musical dramas Prince John the Terrible (1955) and The Uprising (1959), P. Constantinescu’s folk musical drama PanăLesnea Rusalim (1955), and M. Chiriac’s ballets Iancu Jianu (1962) and The Flame (1973). Russian and Soviet composers have had a marked influence on Rumanian music in the treatment of these themes.

Ancient and modern classics have inspired such operas as D. Popovici’s Prometheus (1958) and P. Bentoiu’s Hamlet (1969). In his oratorio Mioriţa (1959), S. Toduţă has continued the tradition of embodying national legends in musical works. Z. Vancea, I. Dumitrescu, D. Bughici, V. Berger, T. Olah, and D. Popovici are actively experimenting in creating national symphonic and chamber music, and Constantinescu, Bentoiu, and Vieru are composing instrumental concerti. Noteworthy achievements have also been made in operetta and variety stage music (G. Dendrino, N. Kirculescu, H. Mălineanu, E. Roman, F. Comişel) and music for the cinema.

Rumania has produced many outstanding performing musicians, among them the singers Z. Pally, E. Cernei, G. Zobian, N. Herlea, and D. Iordăchescu; the pianist V. Gheorghiu; the violinists Ş. Gheorghiu, I. Voicu, and Ş. Ruha; the cellists R. Aldulescu and C. Ilea; and the conductors M. Basarab, M. Cristescu, and E. Simon. New musical theaters and groups have been established, among them philharmonic societies in Timişoara (1947) and Cluj-Napoca (1955) and opera theaters in Timişoara (1947) and Iaşi (1956). In 1974, Rumania had five opera and five musical theaters, about 20 symphony orchestras, and a large number of chamber orchestras and instrumental chamber ensembles, folk orchestras, choral groups, and folk dance ensembles, of which the most famous is the Rumanian Rhapsody Folk Dance Ensemble, formerly called the Lark Folk Dance Ensemble (1953). Especially popular is the Madrigal Choir of the Bucharest Conservatory, founded in 1968.

Musicology has become one of the most highly developed fields in the study of the arts. The leading musicologists are Z. Vancea, V. Cosma, P. Brâncuşi, V. Tomescu, O. L. Cosma, and G. Sbîrcea. T. Alexandru, E. Comişel, and G. Ciobanu are studying folk music. In 1949 the Rumanian Composers’ Society was reorganized as the Composers’ Union of the Socialist Republic of Rumania. In the same year the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore was founded to replace the Phono-Archives of Folk Music, founded in 1927. The Composers’ Union Publishing House was founded in 1957. The monthly Muzica has appeared since 1950, and music yearbooks are also published. Since 1958 the G. Enescu International Festival and Competition has been held in Bucharest every three years.

The professional ballet theater is derived from the traditions of folk choreography and from the art of the touring foreign companies who introduced operas with divertissements in the first quarter of the 18th century. The Red Fountain Theater, built in 1818 in Bucharest, staged operas with dance scenes. A German company performing in Braşov in 1822 staged a pantomime ballet depicting the life of the Rumanian national heroes Horea, Cloşca, and Crişan; it was set to the music of folk dances. The Bucharest Philharmonic Society organized a dance section in 1833, and the first national ballet, L. Wiest’s The Golden Princess, was staged in 1869 by the American choreographer A. Maywood and the Rumanian ballet master G. Moceanu. In 1877 the opera company of the National Theater set up a choreographic school, one of whose directors was the Italian ballet master T. Paris.

Professional ballet evolved between 1910 and 1920. In 1921 permanent ballet companies were formed at the Rumanian Opera and Ballet Theater in Bucharest and at the state opera in Cluj-Napoca. Among the national ballets performed in these theaters were C. Nottara’s Iris, M. Jora’s The Market and Mademoiselle Măriuţa, and P. Constantinescu’s Wedding in the Carpathians.

The country’s liberation from the fascists and the proclamation of the Rumanian republic in 1947 created new opportunities for the development of ballet. Companies were organized at the state operas in Timişoara and Iaşi, at the Hungarian Opera in Cluj-Napoca, and at the musical theaters in Braşov, Constanţa, and Galaţi. The ballet repertoire includes H. Jerea’s Haiduks, M. Chiriac’s Iancu Jianu and The Flame, M. Jora’s Return From the Depths, and L. Profeta’s The Prince and the Pauper. Also staged are experimental productions set to the music of T. Olah, A. Vieru, and A. Stroe and ballets from the classical repertoire. Many dancers are trained in the Soviet Union, and Soviet choreographers stage ballets in Rumanian theaters.

The Rumanian theater has its origin in ancient games and ceremonies, which contained theatrical elements. With time the ritual significance of the games and ceremonies was forgotten. More complex dramatic forms appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries: the irozi, or vicleim (liturgical drama), the jocul păpuşilor (puppet show), and the haiduk play about folk rebels. The rise of the Rumanian professional theater is associated with the activity of school theaters. Student performances are known to have been given in Transylvania in 1775, in Iaşi in 1816 (through the efforts of the writer G. Asachi), and in Bucharest (directed by the poet I. Văcărescu). The opening of a drama school by the Philharmonic Society in Bucharest in 1833 and of the Drama Conservatory in Iaşi in 1836 heralded the professionalization of the theater. A theater building was erected in Iaşi in 1841, and the Great Theater opened in Bucharest in 1852; the latter was renamed the National Theater in 1877.

The Rumanian theater evolved amid the struggle of the progressive social forces for national liberation and social progress. Its development was facilitated by the repertoire, consisting of the best works of V. Alfieri, Voltaire, and Molière, and by the activity of several participants in the revolution of 1848, notably the writers and public figures C. Negruzzi, V. Alecsandri, and M. Kogălniceanu. In the second half of the 19th century two schools of acting emerged, a realist school headed by M. Millo and a romantic school whose leading representatives were C. Caragiale and M. Pascaly. The Dramatic Society, which united professional actors, was founded in 1877 after the formation of the independent Rumanian state.

At the turn of the century the realist traditions were continued by the actors G. Manolescu, A. Romanescu, C. Nottara, and A. Pruteanu; later these traditions were carried on by their students A. Demetriade, T. Bulandra, L. Sturdza-Bulandra, and G. Storin. The evolution of the national theater was influenced by the playwright, director, and critic I. L. Caragiale, whose satirical comedies rank among the best works of world drama. Another genre that developed at this time was the historical play. Some of the best historical plays were written by V. Alecsandri, B. P. Haşdeu, A. Davilla, and B. Delavrancea. The development of a national dramaturgy facilitated the creation of a repertoire.

The art of stage directing was strengthened in the early 20th century. The first Rumanian stage director was P. Gusti. A. Davilla, one of the reformers of the national theater, was influenced by A. Antoine and K. S. Stanislavsky. Davilla headed the National Theater from 1905 to 1908 and from 1912 to 1914. After the unification of Transylvania with Rumania in 1919, the National Theater was founded in Cluj-Napoca. Under Z. Bîrsan’s management the theater achieved notable success.

In the period of growing fascist influence in Rumania, theaters staged light entertainments and didactic and melodramatic plays. The reactionary tendencies were opposed by the progressive theatrical figures, including C. Petruscu, D. Zamfirescu, V. Eftimiu, T. Bulandra, L. Sturdza-Bulandra, M. Ventura, S. Soare, M. Filotti, and M. Sebastian. The progressives upheld the realistic theatrical tradition and stressed the importance of Rumanian and world classics in the repertoire. The stage directors P. Gusti, V. I. Popa, and A. Maican produced numerous plays. The National Theater in Iaşi staged plays for a workers’ audience in 1929–30, and a theater for workers, called Work and Good Will, was founded in Bucharest in 1938 under the direction of V. I. Popa.

The liberation of the country from the fascists and the proclamation of the Rumanian republic in 1947 stimulated a theatrical revival. The new dramaturgy, represented by M. Davidoglu, H. Lovinescu, A. Baranga, and A. Mirodan, helped solve the problems of socialist construction. The first such play, Davidoglu’s The Miners, was staged in 1949 at the National Theater in Bucharest. The theme of socialist construction also underlies the plays For the People’s Happiness by Moraru and Baranga (1950), The Great Day by Banuş (1954), and The Destroyed Citadel by Lovinescu (1955). Among the best of the new theaters that were founded are the Comedy Theater (1961) and the Small Theater (1964). In 1974 there were more than 40 theaters, including Hungarian, German, and Serbian theaters. The most important are the I. L. Caragiale Rumanian National Theater, the Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra Rumanian Theater, the Comedy Theater, the C. I. Nottara Theater, the Mic Theater, I. Creangă Children’s Theater, and the Ţindărică Puppet Theater, all in Bucharest; the V. Alecsandri National Theater in Iaşi; and the national theaters in Cluj-Napoca and Craiova.

Among the most famous directors and actors, some of whom also head theaters, are R. Beligan, H. Popescu, L. Ciulei, L. Giurchescu, and R. Penciulescu. The leading critics and historians of the theater are V. Râpeanu, V. Silvestru, and M. Bărbuţă. The I. L. Caragiale Institute of Dramatic and Cinematographic Art was founded in Bucharest in 1954 to replace the Drama Conservatory, which had been established in 1948. The S. Istvan Hungarian Theater Institute was organized in Tîrgu-Mureş in 1950.

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Circus. In the 18th century small groups of jugglers, acrobats, and magicians performed in the streets, squares, and markets of Rumania. From 1850 foreign artists and circuses toured the country, among them the traveling circus of the Italian artist and entrepreneur T. Sidoli (from 1864), who later settled with his family in Rumania and whose son C. Sidoli became famous. Sidoli’s circuses, which existed until 1930, were major enterprises offering spectacular programs as well as pantomimes (Morocco, Underwater Circus). At various times the German Busch Circus and the Czechoslovak Kludsky Circus toured Rumania. The most famous circus performers of the 1920’s and 1930’s were the aerialists Lupu and Dumitrescu, the clowns Mărculescu and Ciacanica, and the lion trainer Lolu Borisova.

The State Circus was founded in 1954; several national groups were organized in subsequent years; and the Bucharest Circus, accommodating 2,500 persons, opened in 1961. The shows called Carnival of Flowers, Spring in the Circus, Circus Fairy Play, and Don Quixote in the Arena were created in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The leading circus directors are C. Ţipa, M. Gheorghiu, C. Ionescu, and I. Butnaru. The most popular circus artists are the versatile performers Grigorescu and Krateyl; the clowns Ţănderică, Toncino, and Boni; the aerialists under the direction of T. Ganea (later E. Petrescu), Aurelia Augustini, and Salveţ; the tumblers under the direction of Huterer; the Crneanue horizontal bar gymnasts; the Iosefinie magicians; the jugglers O. Bokan and Munteanu; and the animal trainers E. Cristel, Vincenţui, G. Gott, and Destengi.

A. IA. SHNEER

The first films, travelogues, were made in 1897, and the first feature film was produced in 1912. A national film industry emerged only after the establishment of people’s rule in 1945. After it was nationalized in 1948, the film industry expanded rapidly. One of the first postwar films was The Valley Resounds, directed by P. Călinescu, about young construction workers. Mitrea Cocor (1952), a screen adaptation of M. Sadoveanu’s novel, was the first Rumanian film to portray psychological development; it was directed by V. Iliu.

In the second half of the 1950’s a group of talented film directors emerged who produced films of high artistic merit in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Among these films are M. Drăgan’s Thirst (1961, based on T. Popovici’s novel) and Lupeni 1929 (1963); L. Ciulei’s Waves of the Danube (1959, Soviet title, Turbulent River) and The Forest of the Hanged (1964, based on R. Rebreanu’s novel); F. Munteanu’s Sky Without Bars (1962, based on his novel The Artist) and The Tunnel (1967, produced jointly with Soviet filmmakers); I. Mihu’s The White Trial (1965); L. Pintilie’s Sunday at Six O’Clock (1965); A. Blaier’s The Mornings of a Sensible Youth (1966); and L. Bratu’s Tudor (1967).

The motion pictures of the early 1970’s are remarkable for their great diversity of topic, genre, and style. Among the most outstanding are M. Marcus’ The Conspiracy (1970) and The Trap (1971), M. Mureşan’s The Siege (1971), Pintilie’s Reconstruction (1971), S. Nicolaescu’s With Clean Hands (1972), Drăgan’s The Explosion (1972), M. Moldavan’s The Snow Storm (1973), C. Nicolae’s Magellan’s Return (1974), D. Pica’s Philip the Good (1915), and C. Vaeni’s The Wall (1975). Many of these films pose philosophical problems. Recurrent themes include events from national history, life during the fascist occupation, the social transformations that occurred after the country’s liberation and the proclamation of the Rumanian republic in 1947, and the formation of the new, socialist consciousness of the Rumanian people.

I. Popescu-Gopo’s animated cartoons are famous throughout the world. E. Bostan produces fine children’s films. Among her best films are Recollections From Childhood (1965), Endless Youth (1969), Veronica (1972), and Veronica Returns (1974). M. Ilieşu, A. Boiangiu, and E. Mandric are known for their popular-science and documentary films.

The State Film Archive was established in Bucharest in 1957, and the Society of Filmmakers was founded in 1963. Cinema specialists are trained at the cinema department of the I. L. Caragiale Institute of Dramatic and Cinematographic Art. National film festivals have been held in Mamaia since 1964.

The leading film stars are R. Beligan, M. Pogonat, M. Barbu, I. Petrescu, F. Piersic, A. Pelea, I. Ciobanu, V. Rădescu, and E. Petruţ. In 1974, 22 feature films were released, and there were 600 motion picture theaters. The magazine Cinema has been published since 1964.

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Romania

, Rumania, Roumania

a republic in SE Europe, bordering on the Black Sea: united in 1861; became independent in 1878; Communist government set up in 1945; became a socialist republic in 1965; a more democratic regime was installed after a revolution in 1989. It consists chiefly of a great central arc of the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvanian Alps, with the plains of Walachia, Moldavia, and Dobriya on the south and east and the Pannonian Plain in the west. Official language: Romanian. Religion: Romanian Orthodox (Christian) majority. Currency: leu. Capital: Bucharest. Pop.: 22 280 000 (2004 est.). Area: 237 500 sq. km (91 699 sq. miles)

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